Government Reconsiders Its Plan to Legalize Hangchongnyon

The government has decided to review the recent activities and nature of Hanchongnyon, or the Federation of Korean University Student Councils, and to reconsider its previous position to legalize the group, after some Hanchongnyon members broke into a U.S. military shooting range in Pocheon, some 50 kilometers northeast of Seoul, and staged an illegal demonstration on Thursday.

It also decided to harshly punish all of the college students who participated in the demonstration through legal action and to expand its investigation into finding out whether any one person or group was behind the recent surprise demonstration.

At a meeting to coordinate policy for state affairs on Saturday, Prime Minister Goh Kun ordered strong measures against the violators, saying that their actions run counter to national interests at a time when close cooperation between Korea and the U.S. is all the more important to resolve the crisis over North Korea’s nuclear weapons development.

"The Ministry of Justice has sought to legalize Hanchongnyon on condition that the organization changes its main principles. However, there are concerns that the nature of the illegal student group has not changed," a participant in the meeting said, later adding, "The government should perform an objective and comprehensive review of the issue."

At the meeting, the prime minister stressed that the government should find all those behind the demonstration and punish them accordingly. An official at the Office for Government Policy Coordination said, "It seems that there is someone behind this all, seeing what the demonstration participants did, most of whom were only college freshmen and sophomores, were accompanied by an Internet newspaper reporter, and were well prepared with eggs and U.S. flags purchased in advance of the demonstration."

The prime minister is scheduled to hold a dinner meeting with leaders of U.S. Forces Korea at his official residence in Samcheongdong, central Seoul, Monday, in which he will explain the government’s countermeasures to the recent demonstration.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Justice was reported to be seeking other legal measures to dole out harsh punishment against the rally participants, who were arrested on charges of violating the law regarding the protection of military facilities. An official at the Office for Government Policy Coordination said that charges of interference in the execution of duty could be added, according to the criminal code.

On Sunday, the Ministry announced that it would proceed with its plan to remove selected leaders of Hanchongnyon from its wanted list as scheduled, but added that it would crack down on hard-liners within the group that are insistent on carrying out illegal, violent demonstrations.

"We understand that there are critical conflicts between hawks and doves within Hangchongnyon," an official at the Ministry of Justice said. "We plan on taking strong measures against the hawks, including those responsible for the demonstration at the U.S. military shooting range."

In line with this, the Ministry of Justice and the prosecution are likely to crack down on hard-liners after dividing group members into two sub-groups, hawks and doves.

The official at the Justice Ministry went on to say, "Those whom we plan to remove from our wanted list are students who have been on the list only because they are members of the illegal student group. Therefore, there will not be any changes in our initial plan to remove some members off of the list."

Seung-Ryun Kim Myoung-Gun Lee srkim@donga.com gun43@donga.com