South Korea redevelopment battles turn deadly

Reporting from Seoul — The police commandos stormed the building just before dawn. A crane lifted a shipping container onto the rooftop in central Seoul and scores of officers flooded out like warriors from a Trojan horse.

Activists had holed up at the top of the building to protest forced evictions to make way for new development. They dodged police water canons and hurled handmade gasoline bombs at some of the 1,400 riot police officers who encircled the building below in the two-pronged attack.

Suddenly the building exploded into flames, killing six people, including one policeman. One body was burned beyond recognition.

The incident last month marked a lethal turn in South Korea's redevelopment wars, heightening public resentment against aggressive government urban renovation policies many say victimize the poor -- dismissed here as cheol geomin, or squatters.

Prosecutors today are expected to release the results of their probe into whether officers used excessive force, but few protesters expected charges to be filed against the police. In fact, authorities have blamed activists for the fire, saying, "They knew it would be dangerous to use Molotov cocktails."

Prosecutors have charged six evictees in the incident in the city's Yongsan ward with stockpiling paint thinner and other flammable material, and say two dozen others could be indicted. Investigators say they have videotape of an activist pouring gasoline on a stairway.

In Seoul, where developable land is at a premium, activists have demanded the resignations of President Lee Myung-bak and Kim Seok-ki, the police chief who ordered the deadly crackdown.

Critics accuse the government of allowing business interests to force the poor from their homes and shops -- often without adequate compensation -- as a way to kick-start the nation's ailing economy.

"They're focusing on profits and just casting these people aside," said Kim Nam-geun, a civil rights activist. "It's a push for development at any cost."

Nationwide, there are 424 cases in which evictees are battling property owners and developers for more adequate compensation.

Most redevelopment projects here are led by private developers and cooperatives of landlords seeking a quick profit with an aggressive schedule of demolition that does not often allow for public discourse, housing advocates say.