E/CN.4/1989/44
page 31
Republic of Korea
59. In a communication of 21 July 1988 addressed to the Government concerned,
the following information was transmitted by the Special Rapporteur:
"It has been alleged that a number of church leaders have been
detained throughout 1987 and that numerous church buildings have been
raided and tear-gassed. A few examples are cited below.
"On 23 April 1987, in Kwangju police reportedly fired tear qas into
the Presbyterian Church regular General Assembly, forcing the meetinq to
halt.
"On 12 May 1987, police reportedly prevented worshippers from
attending an "all-night prayer service for the nation" at A-Hyun Church
in Seoul.
"On 18 May 1987, police reportedly fired tear-qas into a memorial
service under way in a Buddhist temple in Kwangju. On 31 May 1987, 700
Buddhist monks and laymen who were protesting the incident were again,
reportedly attacked by police with tear-gas.
"On 22 September 1987, a prayer service held by several
congregations in Seoul was reportedly violently broken up by police who
beat and injured several and briefly detained one hundred of the
participants."
60. On 14 November 1988, the Permanent Mission of the Republic of Korea
communicated the reply of the authorities of the Republic of Korea to the
Special Rapporteur. It stated in particular, referring to information
transmitted by the Special Rapporteur concerning events which took place
respectively on:
"(a)
23 April 1987:
"The 89th regular General Assembly of the Presbyterian Churches of
Chollanamdo Province was held from 10 a.m. to 8. p.m. on 23 April 1987 at
Shin Heung Church in Kwangju City, with 270 persons including ministers
in attendance.
"Around 5.50 p.m. when the assembly was still proceeding, some
participants went out to the street to shout anti-Government slogans,
beat policemen on guard and tried to staqe an illegal demonstration.
"The police, while tryinq to break up the illeqal demonstration,
fired tear-gas into the street demonstrators. However, it clearly had
nothing to do with the religious assembly that was going on in the
church. The assembly came to an end more than two hours after the
incident.
"In connection with the incident, no complaint or accusation was
lodged and no one was booked."