MILITANT students, brandishing iron pipes and firebombs, battled riot police yesterday for the third day running in protests demanding the resignation of President Kim Young-sam.
Some 10,000 students took to the streets over the weekend, dashing through the city's subway system and emerging at station entrances to engage police. Petrol bombs landed at the feet of riot officers, engulfing them in flames.
The worst student violence in almost a year was sparked by Mr Kim's refusal to bow to opposition demands and reveal how much he spent on his 1992 election campaign. Allegations that the president grossly overspent have surfaced following a corruption scandal involving loans to bankrupt Hanbo Steel. The scandal has led to the arrest of Mr Kim's son and several of his closest aides.
But in a nationally televised speech last Friday, Mr Kim only conceded that his campaign used up enormous sums" - and shrugged it off as a failure of the system. He called for a radical overhaul of election spending laws.
Media reports said one student was in critical condition after suffering a heart attack during Friday's protests.
South Korea's student movement, which seemed to have been crushed when 151 leaders were jailed following a campus uprising last year, has burst back to life on a popular wave of anger against the president.
Political analysts said Mr Kim, whose term ends this year, would have to move swiftly on legal reform before public outrage, student unrest and pressure from opposition parties overwhelmed his administration. A reform package might be hurried through an extraordinary session of parliament this month.