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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (May 1, 1995)
South Korea mourns 100 killed in aas exolosion I AW.!'. South hurt-. jAPJ Swi-i*! incense filled the hot .nr as hundreds of students in na\ v blue blazers stood silent iv in their dusty sc hoolvard Sunday hid ding farewell to classmates kiIled hv a gas ox plosion Forty-two students from the Von \am Middlti School won- among }(Ml people killed in Fnday 1 blast, the !ati*st in n string of disastrous no idroits in South Korea Throughout the country growing anger over Ins enforcement of safety standards was dins ted .it the government Folic i- announced Sunday that Mivrn [xtopl# responsible for drilling a hole in a gas line against safoly regulations would lie arrested and i barged w ilh negligent e 1 he gas had poured out from the bro ken line and into the water main, collect ing *•! a nearby subway < onstrui turn site until a welding spark ignited it ^tt »tin ules later About half tin* people killed were <hi! dren on their to v hool At least us (woplc wem hospitalized in thisi it> of2 2 million. I*|fi mil«*s smith of .Seoul. The all-tuns Yang Nam u howl lost 42 students, and their families and friends Riled the schoolyard Sunday for a memo rial service Hearses< m led the yard slow ly Mv pour *mj. my (ksoi son murmured (.hung Mook hee. hugging the while draped casket of her 11-vear-old son, unwilling to let go At tables laden with fruit, toys none for vs ard on*- by one to pour rit <■ vs me and say goodbye Food and wine are symbolical ly offered in the- ( onfucian funeral ritual m tie '« .1 It! -, ... . ic.-j. - .. py "Joe-duk liked math He was < .mud kui -..lit! ins lather his hands shaking as he lighted vet another cigarette Tears streamed down his face. but he mod*! no effort io «i pe them away. The nation s grief increasingly was turn ing in anger os the investigation revealed that this .undent. like mem disasters that f decoded it. rould have been prevented tad safety measures been followed At an anti government roily in Seoul. 2.5(H) students vented their anger VVe no longer trust the future of the !»•(> pie to the at i ident prone president v. to Kim Young som's presidency." they dis larvd tn a statement issiu-d at the rally to celebrate the eve of M»v Das Hie government's promise has proven to be worthless." declared the Korea Times in an editorial "How many more lives until safety Ins nines rule'" asked another newspaper Hoping to disiK'l the gross mg furor. Kim had visited Taegu to console the victims, ordered safety i.luw ks. and said construe * lion regulations w j|J I*. changed to uproot bribery. Top minister* met Sunday to map out future safety measure* Hut newspaper* pointed out that Kim had issued similar order* previously, and the string of manmade disaster* had con tinned Shoddy construction and < areless main ten ante were blamed for the col lapse of a bridge in Seoul last October that killed til people Three days later, a fire swept through a crowded sightsee ing ship south of Seoul, killing 30 people Other ris cnt disasters base included a plane i rash that killed fifi. a train derail merit tli.it kilted 78. arid the sinking of an overloaded ferry that killed about tut) In each, the death toll could have been low at, or the accident prevented altogether, had safety measures been follower! Sri Lankan peace hopes dashed COM IMHO. Sri I in. IAI'1 Returning early from an overseas trip, Sri I aiika's president rushed into emergem \ meetings Stmtiay to dismiss .1 MTit**, of rvbttl attai ks that have pushed ifu* island lo ilu brink of hdi-scale war flu- military lias suffered major kisses sim <• iln> l orniI rebels f'l'T*' off;i* < talk•• April in ,imf withdraw from a tmonth-nld lrtu tr. 'barging ifu- government was loo slow lo grant < um vs sums Strue then <it hslsl 220 |»*nple. including 100 soldiers, hove been kilitsf Ki'f»*| ntlm ks have pul half of tin* nnv v \ eight large gunboats out of in lion, ami missile-, have (Imvnml two of its five Avro transport planes The use iif antrum raft missiles a first for the Tamil reliefs in their !2-vei»r war for a homeland « aught the military unaware and has raised questions ihmit the peat e talks 1’fesnienl t hail drik.i kumaratunga began m (ktoiler leaving Paris. where she attended a meeting with aid donors Korrmrotunga indicated a military response w.is possible if we are ,-ittac k«d, we w ill altai k -.tie said Nome !4 ,000 people Itave tieeii killed in the fighting fora Tamil homeland in the north and <■ ist of the island The Tamil minor* it\ H i uses Sn 1 Jinkas Sinhalese majority <»! disi rirninatiun Kumaratunga won power last August by promising to end the '■!! - fe She had audit win ! tie t>n« king of ordinars 1'amils for her jH*in e efforts, hoping to i ut off sup|*irt (or the rebels Hut that strategy would f«> jeopardized if all out fighting leads to heavy civ ilian casualties Some politicians who sup* ported her (M-.u e moves fear the renewed vitileni e could shift (ha isioo-making on dealing w ith the guerrillas from , ivilian offi oafs to ili« military, which had warned that the Tamils would use ii true <* to stock pi It* amis I he military has already (on ed kumaratunga to t hange her duel sum to suspend arms putt hases and she ns »<ntl> allowed nff'u oils to go overseas with o military shopping list "The situation is beyond the i ontrol of the government I nan use the military will want to hit beck, said Vasudewi Nanayakkarn. a left-wing law maker f allowing the missile attacks Friday and Saturday, which killed 90 people, the military had little I hoitv but to suspend flights to its sis northern bases, whit h are surrounded by the guerillas Sim** the nav v was weakened, flights were the ouh way of replacing troops and bringing In food and logistic support. Duck Call Starts \ Today You can register tor UO Summer classes now Pick up a free summer bulletin with schedule of classes in 333 Oregon Hall. . ODE Classifieds... Worth Looking Into! Activists occupy oil platform to keep it from being junked LON pear e ;u tivists occupied tin old North Sea 01 i platform Sunday to stop it from being junked at sea Four ( limbers used ropes and winches to s( ale the Brent Spar, tlH miles north east of the Shetland Islands It is the firs! of the 400 North Sea Oil platforms that are to he dumped at sea, with the government's permission. I’olii e and Shell 1 k Kxplorntiun and Production, which owns the platform, were monitoring the situn lion No one has been arrest ed Greenpeace, whir h wants the platform dismantled and removed, said the t limbers have supplies (or what is expected to be a long occu pation on the platform, oo feet above the sea The Green pear >■ ship Moby t >i< k was standing by. (iri'i'iipciu said the Brent Spar i oiitams over I 00 tons of toxn sludge, including oil, arsenic, cadmium. PCBs and lend, plus more than 30 tons of radioactive waste left over from oil drilling and storage operations Shell defended its plans, saving in a statement that permission to dump the rig was granted "after n full eval uation of the technical, envi ronmental, safety and tost (at tors It made no mention of toxic materials Rnhl Symposium Sponsotr<l />\ the St hoot of Journalism ami ( ommunudlion Ellis Cose ('ontributing editor. AVw % w ct k A lit hot. / hr Ragt' <>J ii I'n 17It’f't’d ( Lis \ "The News Media and Race: Getting Beyond Obvious Truths" Monday, May 1, 1995 (ierlingci Alumni Lounge University of Oregon 3:30 p.m. Please nuke requests for accommodation related to disability to 346-3738.