Abe and South Korean President Park Geun-hye, when they met earlier this month for their first one-on-one talks since taking office, agreed to resolve the comfort women issue as soon as possible, and Park has urged Japan to present a solution that is “acceptable to the victims and deemed reasonable by the Korean people”.
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The police set up roadblocks across the main thoroughfare, blocking protesters from marching towards the Blue House and sprayed water canons into the crowd.
Organizers hope as many as 100,000 people will turn out for the “People’s General Uprising” – a protest rally bringing together workers, farmers, teachers and social activists, among others.
One farmer is unconscious after suffering a stroke when he was hit in the chest by a water cannon, while more than 500 demonstrators were injured, the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions said in a statement on Sunday.
Television footage showed Baek Nam-gi lying motionless as other demonstrators struggled to drag him away and police continued to fire water cannons at them from police buses.
Eight men who had been held as slaves at South Korean salt farms for several years have sued the government for alleged negligence and police inaction they say largely caused and prolonged their ordeal.
Protesters tried to move a few of the buses by pulling ropes they had tied to the vehicles, and police, wearing helmets and body armour, responded by firing tear gas and water cannons.
Student protesters Saturday said the new textbook, to be issued by the government by 2017, would whitewash the legacy of Park’s father, former President Park Chung-hee. Doctors told Baek’s family in that his condition was too fragile to attempt emergency surgery, Cho stated.
This was probably the largest crowd seen in a demonstration in Seoul since 2008, when people poured onto the streets to protest the government’s decision to resume USA beef imports amid lingering mad cow fears, said the Seoul police official.
The government said the changes were needed to help companies compete better with low-priced industries in China and to create jobs for young people.
Security forces in the South Korean capital Seoul have clashed with protesters during one of the country’s biggest street rallies in recent years.
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“Down with (President) Park Geun Hye”, the unionists chanted following the scuffles, calling her conservative government “fascist”, an AFP journalist on the scene said.
