Voting begins in tense South Korea
April 10, 1996
Web posted at: 11:55 p.m. EDT (0355 GMT)SEOUL, South Korea (CNN) -- South Koreans began voting early Thursday amid mounting tension over North Korea's recent military forays into the demilitarized zone dividing the two countries.
Four hours after polling booths opened in general elections on Thursday, some 20.2 percent of eligible voters had cast their ballots, indicating a low turnout, election officials said.
Election officials predicted about 70 percent of the nation's 31.5 million registered voters would turn out to pick 253 of 299 seats in the National Assembly. The other 46 will be filled through a proportional representation system. The ruling New Korea Party is expecting a major setback, and could lose its majority in the National Assembly.
South Korea's main opposition party on Wednesday blasted President Kim Young Sam for his response to the North's maneuvers, which violated the 1953 armistice that partitioned the peninsula.
Park Yong-ok, South Korea's assistant defense minister, called the incursions a "real crisis" and said that if pushed, South Korea will "immediately and resolutely" respond to the North's provocations. After incursions on three consecutive days, North Korea now has gone two days with no new activity in the demilitarized zone.
Meanwhile, on the streets of Seoul, thousands of students -- braving riot police and tear-gas attacks -- demanded Kim's resignation.
Thursday's elections will fill 253 of 299 South Korean National Assembly seats. The other 46 will be filled through a proportional representation system.
Opposition: Kim waffled
Opposition leaders were quick to jump on North Korea's actions, saying the Kim administration had waffled on the issue.
Chyung Dai-chul, co-campaign leader of the National Congress for New Politics, while admitting North Korea was largely to blame for the incursions, added, "It is also the fault of our government, which has changed its policies on North Korea 16 times in the past three years."
But he added, "We stress that our party will actively participate and work with the government on security issues."
Meanwhile, about 7,000 students marched through Seoul in a funeral service for a Yonsei University student, Roh Soo-sok, who died in a recent protest.
An autopsy revealed Roh died of an apparent heart attack, but his body was dotted with bruises. Students blame police brutality for his death.
Witnesses said the number of demonstrators swelled to more than 10,000 by Wednesday evening. "Don't vote for the New Korea Party, so we can create a real democratic society," they chanted.
U.S., South Korean officials meet
South Korea's foreign ministry said the U.N. Security Council plans to discuss the Korean situation in a session Thursday.
Wednesday morning, U.S. Ambassador James Laney and Gen. Gary Luck, the top U.S. military officer in South Korea, met with Seoul's foreign and defense ministers in what they said was a meeting to compare notes on the situation.
At the conference, Chung Tae-ik, a deputy minister at the foreign ministry, said the incursions into the Joint Security area of the DMZ were politically motivated and aimed at driving a wedge between the United States and South Korea.
North Korea has said it wants a new peace agreement involving only itself and the United States. Washington has made it clear a peace pact must be negotiated between the two Koreas, and Chung said President Clinton's visit to the region next Tuesday "is a very good occasion to send a clear message to North Korea."
In North Korea, meanwhile, a Korean Central News Agency report said young people were rushing to join the military as they "seethe with the surging hatred for the enemy and stamina to annihilate it." It said Kim's "doom is a matter of time."
CNN Correspondent John Lewis and Reuters contributed to this report.
Related stories:
- Russia, China join effort to ease tension - April 9
- S. Korean ambassador urges U.N. action - April 9
- South Korea calls North Korea reckless - April 8
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