Around 30,000 people staged a candlelight rally at Gwanghwa Gate, Seoul,
on New Year's Eve to protest the killing of two high school students, Shin
Hyo-Soon and Shim Mi-Sun (inset), by US soldiers driving an armoured vehicle
in June. The soldiers were acquitted by a US military court in late November.
The protesters demanded the soldiers' re-trial in a Korean court, a direct
apology from US President George Bush and the overhaul of the Status of
Forces Agreement between Seoul and Washington. After speeches and cultural
performances, the participants marched to the US embassy. Attempts to form
a human chain around the embassy were blocked by thousands of riot police
and a cordon of police buses. Thousands more rallied in other South Korean
cities. The December 31 actions followed candlelight rallies on December
7-8, 14 and 21. Photos from <http://www.base21.org>.
From Green Left Weekly, January 15, 2003.
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