S Korea protesters clash with police

Regardless of the outcome, the lawsuit is meaningful because it would raise awareness and put pressure on the government to do more to protect vulnerable people from human trafficking and slavery, he said.

This weekend President is leaving South Korea to participate in G20 and a series of regional summits President Park Geun-hye called on Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on November 13 to “make a decision to attend to the wounds from the past and heal them” on the issue of “comfort women” drafted into sexual slavery for the Japanese military. Twenty-nine demonstrators were rushed to nearby hospitals; one suffered a serious injury after a blast from a police water cannon.

Many marchers chanted “Park Geun-hye, step down”.

More than 60 slaves, majority disabled, were rescued from the islands a year ago after they were found by police officers from Seoul who were searching for a missing person.

Numerous protesters were unionized workers who detest labor reforms pushed by Park.

Police warned protesters to remain in a designated area, not to clash with officers and said demonstrators were not permitted to march toward the presidential Blue House.

Tens of thousands of people of took part in the march, according to police.

There were no immediate tallies of the number of people injured on either side.

The authorities said they had mobilised 20,000 riot police for fear that the protest might turn violent.

“The government must immediately cease worsening labour conditions”, Han told the crowd, before scurrying away to avoid being caught by the police.

While heavy-handed policing was reminiscent of an anti-government May Day rally earlier this year, the gathering marked the country’s biggest protest since 2008 – when public uproar due to concerns over mad cow disease and American beef imports brought Koreans onto the streets.

Labour groups have been denouncing government attempts to change labour laws to allow larger freedom for companies in laying off workers, which policymakers say would be critical in improving a bleak job market for young people.

Critics say the state-issued history textbooks, which have not been written yet, would be politically driven and might attempt to whitewash the brutal dictatorships that preceded South Korea’s bloody transition towards democracy in the 1980s.