Thousands of riot police took to the streets of Seoul yesterday to block a North Korean-backed rally, amid heightened fears that the North plans a new missile launch.
Some 15,000 riot police armed with clubs and tear-gas were deployed near major campuses and on roads leading to the border truce village of Panmunjom to stop radical students staging an illegal rally.
The massive show of force came a day before the opening of what dissidents called a "pro-unification" festival to be held simultaneously in South and North Korea, which remain technically in a state of war.
The festival is to reach its climax in Panmunjom next Sunday, the anniversary of Korea's liberation from Japanese colonial rule between 1910 and 1945.
The Seoul government ban on the rally prompted a furious response from North Korea yesterday. "This is an intolerable anti-national behaviour to put a wet blanket on the zeal for reunification displayed by the people in the North, South and overseas," its official media said.
The Korean Central News Agency in Pyongyang also attacked Seoul for arresting dissidents and students, saying the action "revealed their true colours as anti-reunification separatists".
South Korean police have detained dozens of people since Monday last after five dissidents made illegal trips to Pyongyang to join the North Korean version of the annual rally. Seoul's National Security Law makes it illegal to organise or attend gatherings with North Koreans without government approval.
But dissidents have defied the ban, insisting that their rally was a forum at which delegates could discuss ways of reuniting Korea. In the past, South Korean police have stopped rallies on their side of the border, provoking clashes with radical students who echo North Korean propaganda slogans. But this year's celebration comes at a time of new friction between North Korea and the United States, South Korea and Japan.
Officials from the three countries have warned that North Korea is preparing to test-launch a new long-range missile which could hit parts of the US. The missile fears have grown with this week's ending of talks in Geneva - which made little progress - aimed at formally declaring an end of the 1950-1953 Korean War and at easing tensions on the peninisula.
Despite the risk of a further tensions, Pyongyang has been publicly defiant, saying it will not be dictated to and will launch a rocket if it sees fit.
While the move would cause widespread panic in Japan and worries in the US - parts of which are within the range of the new rocket - South Korea fears only the political impact of such a launch.
"We are not so worried about the possible launch of the weapons itself, as in reality we have been under constant threat for half a century," a government official said privately. "But the government could find it very difficult to justify its policy of engagement towards the North if it insists on carrying out such a provocative act."
President Kim Dae-Jung has for 18 months pursued a "sunshine policy" aimed at improving relations with reclusive North Korea through aid and cultural and economic contacts. But there has been minimal response from Pyongyang.
With parliamentary elections due next year, a missile launch would compel the government to revert to a tougher line with the North which could destroy efforts to reach out to the starving country.
President Kim Dae-Jung of South Korea will free 56 political prisoners and pardon the convicted son of his predecessor in a sweeping amnesty of nearly 3,000 people, officials said yesterday. Seven long-term prisoners will be among those to be freed under the special pardon.