CHAPTER THREE
Two events: demonstration by the dwellers of the
"Citizens Apartments" and riot at the
Kwangju Resettlement Complex
1. The demonstration by the dwellers of the "Citizens
Apartments" at the City Hall Plaza
The Construction of the "Citizens Apartments"
We have already seen that rapid promotion of economic development
brought about a massive rural migration and over-urbanization. The policy of the military
government to the most obviously negative aspect of over-urbanization the expansion of
slum districts was the eviction of slum dwellers from the central areas of Seoul. There
were some changes in the policy with time, but there was no change in the basic principle
of driving the slum districts out of the central areas of Seoul. The policy of the
government had never included any plans to improve the income and life of the slum
dwellers.
The initial policy of Seoul metropolitan authorities on slum districts
in the early 1960’s was one of demolishing the slum districts in the central areas of
the city and relocating the slum dwellers to the margins of the city. However, the result
of the policy was the creation of new slum districts in the margins of the city where the
evicted people were resettled. From 1967, the Seoul metropolitan authorities implemented
two parallel policies: one, the demolition of slum districts and the construction of
"Citizens Apartments" on the land the demolition was carried out; the other,
mass removal of the slum dwellers to the resettlement districts in the margins of the
city.
The construction project of Kwangju Resettlement Complex was the
largest single act of the demolition-resettlement policy. The adverse effects and faults
of the project were as enormous as the project itself. The riot of the residents of
Kwangju Complex was sufficiently expected. That is, the riot arose from the unreasonable
demolition-resettlement policy itself.
The construction of Citizens Apartments was an improved version of the
demolition-resettlement policy. The former residents of the demolished shanty houses were
given the right to obtain a unit per family in the Citizens Apartments. The size of a unit
that was allocated to each family was merely 8 pyong (1 pyong = 3.3m2) The
dwellers of the Citizens Apartments did not lose their work places and were not troubled
by inconvenient transportation. however, although the apartment was 8 pyong in size, for
the former dwellers of shanty houses it was an enormous economic burden to maintain it.
Furthermore, the Citizens Apartments were built with very little care.
The cost for construction of the shell of the apartment buildings (200,
000-250,000 Won per unit) was loaned to the residents by the City Hall. The residents had
to repay 2,200-2,300 Won per month for 10-15 years. The cost for providing facilities for
electricity and water supplies, putting up of the interior partitions, laying the roads
leading into the apartment blocks, was to be paid for by the residents themselves.
By 1969, 402 blocks of Citizens Apartments were constructed, and
further 200 blocks were planned for construction in 1970.
On April 8th, 1970, when the construction of the Citizens Apartments
was in full gear, around 6:20 a.m. the 15th block of Wawoo Citizens Apartments in
Changchun Dong, Mapo Gu, Seoul, collapsed completely. 27 residents and construction
laborers were buried alive, and 43 people were seriously injured. The tragedy made some
70,000 residents of Citizens Apartments shiver in horror and fear, and aroused the anger
of 5,000,000 Citizens of Seoul, and brought about the resignation of the Mayor of the
city.
Well before this tragic incident, many problems of the Citizens
Apartments were pointed out by the residents: (1) there were many thieves, (2) laying of
electric wires was done carelessly, (3) sewage was spilling into rooms, (4) many people
had suffered from anthracite coal gas poisoning, (5) the waterproof system of the roof was
deficient, (6) there was no fire extinguishing equipment, and so on.
The dwellers of the Citizens Apartments set about to organize
themselves in order to solve these problems.
Organization of the Federation of Self-administration Associations
of Seoul Citizens Apartments
In the morning of the day the Wawoo Citizens Apartments collapsed,
five trainees who were participating in the Action Training Program directed by the
Committee for Urban Mission of the Institute of the Urban Studies and Development and
trainers in charge of their training gathered together urgently at the Institute. They
agreed that this incident could become an occasion for community organizing. They made a
thorough plan for organization. The trainees returned to their assigned districts.
Around 4 p.m. I [trainee-organizer] urgently gathered together 15 people (including 5
housewives) who were very capable agitators among the community people. We went to the
place of the collapsed Wawoo Apartments in four taxis. The people were angry at the
wretched sight and expressed the feeling that they must take some action. Especially the
housewives who had sharp sensitivity, deeply felt the urgency to take some action.
On the next day, April 9th, I circulated some pictures of the site of
the incident and the newspapers carrying the news of the incident among the community
people.
On the night of 10th, 15 people, representatives of each block of the
Apartments met together.
"I" in the above quotation is a trainee who was working in
the Naksan Citizens Apartments in Changshin Dong. The trainees assigned to the Keumhwa
Citizens Apartments and Yonhee Citizens Apartments undertook similar action. Through this
preparatory work, 10 representatives from the three districts met on April 11th, and
decided to form a preparatory committee for the Federation of Self-administration
Associations of Seoul Citizens Apartments. Following that decision 15 representatives from
five districts formed the preparatory committee. Through a number of meetings the
preparatory committee prepared a statement of objectives and intentions of the Federation,
rules of the Federation, the date and place of founding assembly, and articles of
resolution.
On April 22nd, 3 p.m. a tribute to the guardian spirit of the Wawoo mountain to comfort
the souls of the victims of the Wawoo Apartments incident and to pray for the safe
progress of the rest of the construction was held at the site of the incident. After the
tribute 35 representatives from 10 districts held a meeting of founding committee for the
Federation, and decided to hold the founding assembly for the Federation on April 29th, at
the Christian Building.
On April 29th, 7:30 p.m. the provisionary chairperson took the floor
before 240 representatives of the Citizens Apartments and declared the founding assembly
open. However, a quarter of the participants were not genuine representatives but
plainclothes.’ policemen. The plainclothes policemen planned and attempted to disrupt
the assembly, but it progressed as planned. The assembly elected one president and five
vice presidents, and adopted a statement of resolution, and then was called to an end.
Thus, the Federation which represented 62,735 people of 12,547 units of 315 blocks of
Citizens Apartments, was organized.
The objectives of the Federation were to:
-
Protect the rights of the dwellers of Citizens Apartments and
strengthen the safety for the dwellers,
-
Promote improvement of the dwellers’ welfare,
-
Work for the mutual fellowship of the dwellers.
The Federation organized demonstration on four occasions for the rights
of the residents and submitted letter of petition on eight occasions, and undertook many
other activities, but the participation of the residents became poorer as days went by.
Demonstration at the City Hall Plaza
June 15, 1971.
On the notice boards located in all the Citizens Apartments Complexes,
was posted a public statement of the Seoul City authorities. According to the statement
the residents who bought the units through resale transactions were to repay the loan from
the city in lump sum, by June 30th. The City had loaned the cost of construction to the
original dwellers - the evicted people - with the condition to repay in monthly
instalments over 15 years.
The claim that those residents who obtained their apartments through
resale from the original ~1wellers, had to repay the loan in lump sum was a great shock.
Because more than half of the original dwellers had already resold their rights to the
apartments. The original dwellers had not only to repay the loan to the Seoul City Hall,
but also had to repay the money they had borrowed privately to finish off their individual
apartments. As seen earlier, the Seoul City authorities built only the shell of the
buildings and the dwellers had to make the interior partitions and finish off the
individual apartments. That some 70% of the original dwellers burdened with the repayment
for the loans, had sold their apartments was not at all strange. The City authorities
provided them with eight pyong apartment unit, but did not make any measures for them to
maintain it.
Then, did the people who had obtained the apartments through resale
have the economic capacity to repay in lump sum the loan from the city authorities? Not in
the least They had thrown all their money in the obtaining of their own apartments. They
were without any money. Therefore, it was impossible for them to obtain such a large sum
of money totaling 200,000 Won at such a short notice.
The residents of the Citizens Apartments felt that they had to do
something; hut what they had to do, how they had to do, they had no idea. They decided to
call on those trainee-organizers who helped them organize the Federation of
Self-administration Associations of Seoul Citizens Apartments in 1970. On June 16th, 1971,
9 p.m. representatives of Kumhwa Apartments and an organizer [a former trainee-organizer]
met.
People 1: What must be done to nullify the public statement of the
city.
Organizer: Well, how many blocks of Citizens Apartments are there?
People 2: There are some 360 blocks.
Organizer: How many are those people who obtained their apartments
through resale?
People 2: It differs according to district. In the Chunggyechun canal
district over 90% of the original dwellers have sold their apartments. On average, some
70% of the original dwellers have sold their units.
Organizer: Apartments must be far more convenient than shanty houses.
Why didn’t they live on, instead of selling their units?
People 3: Don’t speak bull. No one sold off because they
didn’t like living there. It was because they were squeezed by debts, that’s why
they sold off.
Organizer: Is it only the dwellers of Citizens Apartments that received
the notice about the immediate repayment in lump sum.
People 2: No. There’s big trouble in Kwangju Resettlement Complex
because the authorities demanded immediate repayment in lump sum for the housing land.
Organizer: Why did the authorities send the notice for immediate
repayment in lump sum?
People 3: Isn’t that bloody obvious? They built the apartments in
lightening speed to undertake elections [the presidential election in April 1971 and the
general elections for national assembly in May] although they didn’t have the funds.
They want now to collect back the money, now that elections are over.
People 1: This way or that way, it’s only those bastards
who’ve got nothing whose life is mucked up. Damn!
Organizer: Then more than half of the dwellers of the Citizens
Apartments would have to repay at once the loans from the city authorities. And
considerable number at the Kwangju Complex have to pay in lump sum for the housing land.
People 2: Yes, that’s right. Bastards who sold are worried witless
that they might not get their balance, bastards who bought are worried because they ain’t got no money. Whichever way every one’s witless and sick with worry.
The representatives of the dwellers were able to sum up their situation
objectively through their conversation with the organizer. They were able to confirm that
many people were confronted with the same problem as theirs.
Organizer: What do you plan to do?
People 3: We should all get together.
Organizer: How would you gather? Wouldn’t the authorities [police,
intelligence agencies] put a stop to that?
People 3: No way. Who would stop us
People 2: I mean do we advertise that we meet?
Organizer: Does the Federation of Self-administration Associations
organized last year still exist?
People 1: Who cares much about that when every one’s shot to
threads busy trying to make a living. It exists only in name.
Organizer: Do you meet sometimes with the community representatives
from other districts?
People 1: Of course.
Organizer: Then it would be easy to get a meeting.
They went away after deciding to discuss the problem with the community
representatives from other districts. Following that day, there were community
people’s meetings in each district. The community representatives of all districts
met four or five times to examine their progress. On June 29, 7 p.m. the representatives
met for the last time.
People 1: Today is the last day. What place should we decide for our
protest?
Organizer: Have you decided on the content of your protest?
People 1: That’s simple. Unconditional withdrawal of the order,
that’s all.
Organizer: Did the city authorities carry out the repairs for faulty
constructions after the collapse of the Wawoo Apartments?
People 2: No.
Organizer: Then you would have much to say.
People 2: Of course. If they are not going to repair the faulty
constructions, then we should ask to give us back the land we were living on.
Organizer: It’s important to decide where to stage the protest,
but wouldn’t it also be important to decide on how many people would come to it?
People 3: Since this is the matter of the City Hall, the City Hall
Plaza should be the spot.
People 1: Kwanghwamun intersection would be good.
People 4: I think it should be the plaza before the Jungangchung (the
Capitol Building).
Organizer: All the suggestions are good. But one should take care to
decide on the time, too.
People 3: Nine o’clock in the morning in the City Hall Plaza would
be good.
Organizer: It’s the time most people go to work. Wouldn’t it
be inconvenient for the people who are going to work?
People 3: That’s why it’s so good. Many people would see and
listen to the protest.
(All the representatives agree.)
Organizer: How will everyone be able to gather precisely at nine o
clock?
People 1: People should gather in groups separately in side streets
around the City Hall, and converge at the City Hall Plaza when the clock on the City Hall
building strikes nine o’clock.
(The representatives decide on the locations nearby the City Hall where
people would gather to make for the protest rally.)
Organizer: There is a question. Will the people of the Kwangju Complex
come, too?
People 2: No. If the information leaks out, then it’s the end. If
they get to know of our action later, they would organize their own action. Anyway, the
distance is too much. It takes more than two hours to come to the City Hall from Kwangju.
Organizer: What would happen, let say, if all the representatives are
detained tonight by police, in case the information leaks out?
People 1: It’s impossible. Even if we are arrested there is the
second representatives, then there is the third. And since there is that experience of the
Federation, the information will not leak out.
Organizer: How did the information leak out that time?
People 1: It was because some representatives were scurrying about
making election campaigns, all of them wanting to become the chairperson.
Organizer: That’s not going to happen this time?
People 3: This time it’s different. It’s matter of losing or
keeping our property.
Organizer: What happens if the Mayor wants to see the representatives
after~ the protest action? Who would go?
People 2: Someone would go. It wouldn’t be good for us, real
representatives to go and see the Mayor. We should just watch from the background.
Organizer: What would happen if someone totally unexpected goes saying
that he is the representative?
People 2: However out of blue he may be, he would demand the withdrawal
of the order; and wouldn’t the Mayor have read the leaflet we have distributed? It
would be difficult if we went forward and got arrested by police.
Organizer: What if no one goes forward?
People 1: That wouldn’t be worry. There’s always someone who
want to show off. Some people will definitely go forward. When or if the Mayor
proposes to meet with representatives, wouldn’t it mean that the moment was
advantageous to us? Someone will definitely go forward.
Organizer: Well
The community representatives left after finishing off the cold Chinese
noodles.
June 30th, 1971, at precisely nine o’clock in the morning, some
3,000 people, who were waiting around in the side streets near the City Hall, rushed into
the City Hall Plaza like a tide. It was like an angry flood. The police did not know what
to do; and the citizens who were on the way to work stopped in their tracks and watched
the protest. Even the employees of the City Hall were watching through the opened windows
of their offices.
The Police barricaded the protesting people with buses. There was no
other measure the police could take. How was it to deal with the masses who were mainly
housewives and old people? In the end the Mayor requested a meeting with the
representative. And someone came forward taking on the role of the representative. He
demanded the withdrawal of the order and the repairs for the faulty apartment buildings
and the Mayor submitted unconditionally.
One of the people who were passing by murmured, "This is really
the power of people! Must be the work of the Holy Spirit!"
2. The riot at the Kwangju Resettlement Complex
Seoul "Special" City planned to drive the dwellers of shanty
districts out of the boundary of the "Special" City. The number of shanty houses
and the number of dwellers were 233,000 and 1,270,000 respectively, as of 1967. In 1968,
Seoul "Special" City announced its plan to construct a Resettlement Complex at
Jungbu Myon, Kwangju Kun* [* The "Myon" is a sub-unit of the Kun (county), and is
composed of several Ri’s. "Ri" is equivalent to Dong in city] of Kyonggi Do
[Province].
On May 2,1969 the city authorities began to ferry away the residents of
slum districts of Yongdu Dong, Majang Dong, Bongchun Dong, Soongin Dong, Changshin Dong,
Yokchon Dong, and others, to Tan Ri and Dahndae Ri of Jungbu Myon, Kwangju Kun.
The people were dumped like garbage on the land designated as the site
of the Resettlement Complex. There was no water supply, much less electricity and sewerage
facilities. The land was not even leveled for the beginning of the construction. The
dumped people were accommodated in tents which were erected on the rice and vegetable
fields and back of hills. The tent dwellers drew water from the stream to wash their rice
and cut down trees from the hills to cook their meals. They anxiously stared at the
bulldozers that went about leveling the ground, and cursed the thoughtless plan of
‘move in first—construction later".
The Kyonggi Do provincial authorities were at a loss confronted with
the mass dumping of the evicted people when only the ground leveling work was just in
progress. So, it made request to the Seoul City Hall to suspend the transportation till
the conditions for moving in were in place. However, the Seoul City Hall took no notice of
the request and pushed ahead with the forced transportation.
The greatest problem for the tent dwellers was the fact that they had
lost, all of a sudden, all means of earning a living. They who had earned their daily
meals with daily income from odd physical jobs, had no idea how to make a living in the
desolate space on which they had been dumped. Indeed they were at a loss.
The tent dwellers selected their representatives and through them
requested the Seoul City Hall to provide them with relief food. The Seoul City Hall
provided small quantity of flour irregularly, but the situation for the residents was not
improved.
However, houses were starting to be set up here and there on the
desolate land, and extravagant ceremonies marking the commissioning of construction of
factories were held, indicating that development was taking place with some speed. As
construction boom occurred the labor power was in great demand and always lacking; the
prices of land began to jump uncontrollably.
Seoul City Hall announced that 3,000,00 pyong of land for housing will
be prepared in Kwangju, to build 65,000 units of houses, to accommodate 350,000 people;
and that 100 factories will be built and thus provide employment for 450,000 people.
Furthermore, it boasted that it would construct a new city that would not leave its
residents in any inconvenience, providing facilities such as 17 primary schools and 8
middle schools. Poor people over the country flooded into Kwangju with their hopes high at
the splendid pledges. The area which had only 6, 000 local residents became to be home for
people nearing 200,000 within three years.
As the housing development became active and the population was
increasing, land brokers (real estate agents) found their day. These people went around
buying off the land allocation certificates from the evicted residents and sold the
certificates to non-evicted residents who flooded into Kwangju attracted to the
development project of the Seoul City authorities. The land brokers obtained enormous
profit by selling the certificates at a high price. They had already grabbed bonanza by
buying and selling the land allocation certificates when slum dwellers were resettled in
Bongchun Dong, Sanggye Dong, and other districts, in the previous squatter resettlement
program of the Seoul City Hall.
Tents with the sign, "real estate agent" swept white along
the major roads of Kwangju. With the construction of schools and market, and other large
size buildings the sale and resale of the land certificates became even more active and
the number of real estate agents increased even more. In the process, the number of
non-evicted residents became greater than that of evicted residents who were dumped in the
area. Kwangju Resettlement Complex that found its place in the sweeping wind of two
elections in the Spring of 1971, was vibrant with energy and life. The price of land which
the Seoul City bought from the Kyonggi Province for 150—400 per pyong was now well
above 200,000 won in the central areas. The calculation that the Seoul city Hall could be
reimbursed on the cost of construction just from the sales of the remaining land in the
central area having allocated land to the evicted residents, became apparent. Thus the
Seoul City Hall’s management of Kwangju Resettlement Complex was on the verge of a
great success.
The brilliant management techniques of the Seoul City Hall were
apparent in its measures taken on the re-sales of the land allocation certificates. In July
1970, the city authorities ordered an end to the re-sales, and notified the land holders
who obtained their rights through the resale of the land certificates, to pay for land at
the current market price in lump sum. However, as the elections were imminent, it became
silent and took no further notice of the resale practices. But on May 26th, 1971, after
the general elections were over, the city authorities notified that it would recall the
land allocation rights from those land holders who obtained their rights through resale
unless they completed the construction of houses on their land by June 10th.
Following that, on July 14th, the city authorities took action to stop
the resale practices. It divided residents into those people who had been evicted and
given the right to the land, and those people who had obtained the right to the land
through resale transaction, and notified the first group to finalize the "contract
for land allotment" and the latter group to finalize the "contract for land
purchase", by August 30th. And it stipulated that the price for the land those people
in the latter group had to pay, in single payment, was the market price at the time of
signing of the contract.
What the city authorities wanted to do was to sell the land it had
bought for 150—400 Won per pyong at 8,000---16,000 Won. Those people who obtained the
land through resale transaction, were about to become victims of the land speculation
undertaken by the city for the sole reason that they had bought the land allocation
certificate. Originally the city announced that it would allocate 20 pyong of housing land
for every evicted household at 2,000 Won per pyong, and the repayment was structured as
following: a grace period of three years and repayment in instalments over three years.
The city was engaged in an exercise of land speculation against those people who were no
different in their status from the evicted people although they bought the land allocation
certificate.
When we compare the price of 8,000 —16,000 Won charged per
pyong
in Kwangju Complex and the prices of land in other areas at the time, we can easily
recognize how unreasonable that price was. The minimum price of 8,000 Won was indeed a
high price, compared to the price of land ranging 500 Won to 2,500 Won per
pyong,
allocated to evicted people in a nearby resettlement area, Guhyoh Dong, Seoul. The maximum
price of 16,000 Won was more expensive than the price of land in Namsan area in the heart
of Seoul.
It seemed that the Seoul City Hall was aiming for the "two birds
with one stone" effect by demanding the non-evicted people to buy the land at an
exorbitantly high price. With a single act the city authorities would be able to put an
end to resale transactions of the allotment certificates, and also able to make a good
profit from the development project.
From the position of the non-evicted residents the actions of the Seoul
City authorities were exorbitantly unfair. The situation faced by the non-evicted
residents can be put as follows: The price of the land certificate they bought was very
high because of the acts of the real estate agents. The agents would undertake many resale
transactions over a single certificate. By the time when the people came to buy this
certificate, its price had already jumped many times at the intrigue of the agents. But
now, because of the actions of the city authorities, these people had to buy the land at
the market price from the city, in other words, they had to pay twice for the same land.
While the residents of Kwangju Complex were stirred by the unfair
measures of the Seoul City authorities, the Kyonggi Do provincial authorities notified
that the owners of houses should pay the acquisition tax. The amount of the acquisition
tax ranged from 10,000 Won to 16,000 Won. The Kyonggi Do provincial authorities poured oil
on the flame of anger.
The residents came to feel that they could not take the
authorities’ measures lying down. They were greatly encouraged by the demonstration
by the dwellers of Seoul Citizens Apartments at the City Hall Plaza. On July 19, the
residents organized the "Committee for Response and Action to Readjust the Price for
Land Allocation" and decided on four demands.
-
Lower the price of land to a level below 1,500 Won per
pyong.
-
Institute a repayment scheme allowing the cost of the land
allocation to he paid over ten years in yearly instalments.
-
Exempt all taxation for next five years.
-
Make provisions for the employment and plans for the relief of the
destitute.
The Committee forwarded a letter of petition which included these
demands to the Minister for Home Affairs, the Mayor of Seoul City and the Provincial
Governor of Kyonggi Do, but there was no reply from any of them. As a centripetal point
was constituted with the organization of the Committee, the residents responded actively
and created lower level organizations. The residents also staged sporadic demonstrations.
As the responses from the administrative authorities were not
forthcoming, the residents elected 217 representatives and changed the "Committee for
Response and Action" into a "Struggle Committee". The Struggle Committee
decided August 10th as the "Day of Final Decision".
It decided to hold a protest rally on the hills behind the branch
office of the Seoul City Hall, on 11 a.m. that day. It notified the decision to all
districts and sub-districts. Pickets, placards, wall posters, leaflets, in all a total of
30,000 items were prepared.
On 10th, leaflets entitled "Gather, Unite, Arise and Take Part in
the March for Readjustment ! " were distributed to each house and wall posters were
plastered early in the morning.
Prior to that day, the Seoul City Hall, jolted by the movement of the
residents made a proposal to hold a meeting, at 11 a.m. August 10, between the residents
and the Mayor of Seoul City, Mr. Yang Taek Shik. The residents had already decided to
resort to force in case Mayor Yang did not present them measures which were satisfactory
to them.
From early in the morning the hills behind the branch office became to
be full of people. Men and women, young and old, of sallow faces came in streams. Some
people came gritting their teeth as if they had made serious determination. People had
pickets in one hand and wooden clubs in the other, and wore yellow ribbons saying "No
more sugar-coated propaganda Save the unemployed masses" on their left chests.
By 10 o’clock in the morning some 50,000 people had gathered.
There were waves of some 2,000 pickets and placards with:
-
"Don’t raise the price of land bought for 100 Won!
"Oppose to death the killing allotment price
-
"Don’t enrage people who cry in hunger with taxes "No
more exploitation of the destitute!
-
"Give us jobs
-
"We can’t go on living with this hunger!
-
Mayor Yang was nowhere to be seen even after well past 11 o’clock.
It was raining intermittently since the morning.
Around 11:45 someone among the enraged crowd shouted "We have been
tricked again. Let’s march down ! " Some 300 people started to charge down
towards the branch office, with the Cry "wah".
Shoutings of "Break them", "Get rid of them" could
be heard from inside the branch office. Tables, telephones, cabinets, and others were
thrown about, and documents in table drawers and on the tables were thrown on the floor.
With the cry "Burn them" the building of the branch office (some 100
pyong in
size) was enveloped in fire.
The excitement of the crowd was inflamed by the fire, and the number of
the crowd kept on increasing.
When some 700 riot policemen appeared on the scene around 1:40 p.m. the
excitement of the crowd was even more inflamed.
More than 2,000 community people boarded on some ten buses shouting
"Why do you blockade and club us? Why do you not give us food? We are starving."
‘F hey wanted to charge into Seoul. The advance to Seoul came to a failure due to the
blockade of the police.
When the battle between the police firing tear gas and the community
people throwing stones was at its peak, small truck carrying melons passed by the site of
demonstration. The demonstration crowd regardless of young and old, men and women
converged on the truck and devoured the melons. The truckload of melons just disappeared
in a moment.
The ferocity of the demonstration continued to become fierce even in
the rain. Around 2 o’clock the enraged demonstration crowd converged on the police
box and smashed it down. They went on to set fire on a police patrol car. Surrounding the
demonstrating crowd were the masses of the community people numbering 5,000, who responded
by shouting encouragements.
The confrontation between the people and the police continued in the
rain. When there arrived the news around 5 o’clock that Mayor Yang had submitted
unconditionally to the demands of the people, the people began to disperse. Around half
past five the fierce demonstration came to an end after some six hours had passed since
its start.
The area was strewn dizzy with cars that had been blackened by fire,
shrapnel of tear gas bombs, torn placards, pickets, wooden clubs and ownerless rubber
shoes.
Over one hundred community people and police personnel were injured,
and the loss in property amounted to some 20 million Won.
The situation returned to a semblance of order for the moment with the
unconditional promises by the mayor of Seoul City to:
-
lower the price of land obtained through resale transaction of the
allotment certificate to the same level as the price of land allocated to the evicted
residents;
-
release relief grains for the livelihood of the community people;
-
make all efforts to exempt the acquisition tax;
-
solve the unemployment problem by putting the factories into
operation as soon as possible.
However twenty-two community people were arrested in the struggle to
wrench these compromises from the Seoul City authorities. | 
