WORLD - Catholic priests fast to protest South Korea's National Security Law - these and other international news items are discussed

National Catholic Reporter, Oct 1, 1999 by Matt Kantz

Korean priests fast to end Security Law

More than 30 Catholic priests were fasting to pressure South Korea's government to repeal the National Security Law.

The priests, 18 of whom shaved their heads, are members of the Catholic Priests' Association for Justice. They say the fast will continue until the law is abolished.

Thirty priests began the fast Sept. 7 at the Catholic Center in the Myongdong Cathedral compound in downtown Seoul, but more joined later. About a week into the fast, they decided that about 20 would continue the fast at the center, while others would fast at their parishes. The priests take only water and salt while participating in the fast.

In a statement Sept. 7 the priests said the National Security Law restricts human dignity and freedom and should be repealed. Under the law, a person can be arrested and prosecuted for carrying out any activity praising or benefiting the "enemy," North Korea. Since South Korea came into existence with the formal division of the Korean peninsula in 1948, its governments have been criticized for using the law to oppress suspected dissidents or opposition groups.

Fr. Paul Moon Kyu-hyon, a spokesman for the priests, said that fasting in the biblical context has the meaning of repentance and offering, and the priests want to show repentance for failing to get the security law abolished.

New evidence analyzed in Gerardi murder

FBI analyses of blood found near the site of a Guatemalan bishop's slaying match that of a priest and two other men, the chief investigator said Sept. 16.

The new evidence revives questions about the possible involvement of Fr. Mario Orantes in the April 1998 murder of Bishop Juan Gerardi. Prosecutor Celvin Galindo Lopez said Sept. 16 that analyses of eight other DNA samples, which could place military officers at the scene, have yet to be completed.

Blood samples were recovered from a rug in Orantes' room, located down the hall from the garage where Gerardi was bludgeoned to death. A mixture of blood from Orantes, from a vagrant who often slept in front of the parish and from a former drug dealer were found on the rug.

Orantes could not be reached for comment. He served as an assistant to Gerardi and was arrested in June 1998 and held for eight months before murder charges against him were dropped for lack of evidence.

The two other men who match the blood samples have also been linked to the investigation. Ruben Chanx Sontay, a homeless man, said hours after the murder that Rafael Eduardo Perdomo Cabrera, the former drug dealer, had been asking about Gerardi's schedule habits days previous to the killing.

Northern Irish families applaud new Bloody Sunday report

Relatives of 13 Northern Ireland Catholics shot to death by British troops on what became known as "Bloody Sunday" in 1972 said Sept. 16 that a new forensic report backed up their view the victims were innocent and unarmed.

The report, commissioned by a new official inquiry panel, rejected forensic findings given to the Widgery Tribunal that originally probed the killings, according to families' lawyers.

"It vindicates the case made by the relatives that their loved ones were innocent and had not been handling firearms when they were shot" said Paddy MacDermott, a lawyer for the family of one of the victims, William Nash.

The Wray family, whose son Jim was 22 when he was killed, said the study showed that he had been shot in the back at least once as he lay defenseless on the ground.

Relatives of Barney McGuigan, who was married with six children, said the study confirmed their suspicion that he had been shot in the back of the head with a banned "dum-dum" bullet.

Mexico's offer to restart talks' meets skepticism in Chiapas

Rebels, key politicians and political analysts in Chiapas have expressed skepticism and opposition to the Mexican government's recent release of prisoners and offers to restart peace talks with Zapatista rebels.

"How are we going to respond quickly if the supreme [government] does not let go of the microphone and every day adds clarifications, rectifications and poststcrips to its `open letter,'" Zapatista leader Subcommander Marcos said in a one-sentence statement sent to the media Sept. 17.

Interior Minister Diodoro Carrasco's six-point plan to renew stalled peace talks with the Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN) has been touted as insincere and a politically motivated gesture ahead of the presidential elections in July 2000.

"It's difficult to believe in the government's goodwill to find a solution in Chiapas when it has done nothing in the last two years," said Federico Estevez, a political scientist at ITAM University. "It's a politically dubious gesture that comes at an electoral moment."

Quebec bishops say no apologies for orphans

The Quebec bishops' assembly announced it would offer neither apologies nor compensation to the Duplessis "orphans" who claim their lives were ruined in Quebec's Catholic-run institutions of the 1940s and '50s.

Bishop Pierre Morissette of Baie-Comeau, president of the assembly, said in a Sept. 15 news conference that to make an apology would be to accept a version of events that the church does not accept and would constitute a "betrayal of the good works of those who dedicated their lives to the service of the poor."