Four students who broke into US ambassador Harry Harris’ home to stand trial in Seoul
- A South Korean court has issued arrest warrants to prevent them from fleeing the country
- They were protesting against a US demand for a hefty increase in South Korea’s share of costs for US troops stationed there
A South Korean court has issued arrest warrants for four of the 19 students who broke into the US ambassador’s home in Seoul last week, saying this will prevent them from fleeing from justice while standing trial.
Following the incident and a request from the US embassy, South Korean police have deployed about 80 additional personnel, bringing to about 110 the total number of people protecting the residence of US ambassador Harry Harris in central Seoul.
“Big shout out to Embassy guards & Seoul Metro Police Agency for responding to protesters who breached perimeter around my residence,” Harris tweeted.
“2nd incident in 13 months in Heart of Seoul. This time they tried to forcibly enter my home itself. 19 arrested. Cats are OK,” he said, apparently referring to an incident in September last year when a Chinese woman of Korean ancestry entered the compound by scaling the wall and roamed for a while before being arrested.
The students, mostly in their early 20s, are members of the Daehaksaeng Jinbo Yonhap (The Association of Progressive Students), a small group of leftist-leaning pacifist students who have been campaigning for reconciliation with North Korea since their launch in March 2018.
They were protesting against the US demand for a hefty increase in South Korea’s share of costs for the 28,500 US troops stationed there.