Choi insists S. Korea will advance democracy

President Choi Kyu-Hah renewed his government's promises of democratization Sunday despite the imposition of full martial law over the weekend and subsequent detentions of political leaders. The presidential statement came just after the country's martial-law authorities announced they had detained 26 people, including dissident leader Kim Dae Jung, who was narrowly defeated by the late President Park Chung Hee in the 1971 presidential election and has said he would run for the presidency in 1981.

Violence flared in the southwestern town of Kwangju Sunday as militant youths clashed with police during protests against the imposition of harsher martial law. In southern Seoul, 30 students attempting to stage a protest rally were arrested by martial law authorities.