Authorities in South Korea mobilized more than 50,000 riot police yesterday as protesters vowed to press ahead with a wave of demonstrations against a proposed free trade deal with the US.
The Korean Alliance Against the Korea-US FTA earlier predicted that more than 100,000 people would join the street demonstrations in seven cities in spite of a ban on rallies.
"We will go ahead with planned protests, although many cannot reach designated places today due to tough police action," a coalition spokesman said.
PHOTO: AFP
Police said more than 50,000 officers were deployed.
"Many officers were deployed at checkpoints leading to highways and bus terminals, blocking vehicles carrying protesters, but there have been no reports of violence as yet," National Police Agency spokesman Chung Yoon-chung said.
Unpopular
The proposed free trade pact is unpopular with farmers who say it will kill off their traditional lifestyle, as well as with other workers who fear for their jobs.
Yesterday last week about 70,000 people rallied in Seoul and several other locations, triggering clashes with riot police in some places that left 63 people injured.
However police secured arrest warrants on Tuesday for 42 activists after the left-leaning government launched a crackdown and declared zero tolerance for street violence.
Separately, union officials said 113,600 workers joined a four-hour strike at 185 worksites including the country's largest carmaker Hyundai Motor, to protest against labour law reforms and the free trade pact.
The labor ministry put the number at 36,000.
The strike was organized for the second Wednesday in succession by the militant Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, which has led anti-FTA protests along with farmers and other groups.
US ambassador Alexander Vershbow has said studies show that a pact would create nearly half a million new jobs in Korea alone.
New rounds
After a fourth round of talks in October, both sides in the tough talks expressed hope for an eventual deal even though the lengthy negotiations will drag on into next year.
A fifth round is scheduled for next month in the US and a sixth in South Korea in January.
The negotiations on what would be the biggest US free-trade deal since the North American Free Trade Agreement must end well before US President George W. Bush's authority to push through such legislation expires on June 30.
South Korea, Asia's fourth-largest economy, is the seventh-biggest trading partner of the US. Two-way trade reached US$72 billion last year.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique