Police Arrest Three Student Activists for Trespassing at U.S. Air Base

PYEONGTAEK, South Korea, Aug. 6 (Yonhap) -- Police arrested three student activists Thursday for allegedly trespassing on a U.S. air base in South Korea earlier this week.

A police station in Pyeongtaek, home to the U.S. Forces Korea, arrested the three people after a Pyeongtaek branch of the Suwon District Court granted arrest warrants for them.

On Tuesday, eight members of the Korean Progressive University Student Union, including the three students arrested, attempted to breach the main gate of the K-55 Osan Air Base in Pyeongtaek, about 60 kilometers south of Seoul. Six entered the compound, while the other two were stopped at the entrance.

The U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) detained the student activists on-site and handed them over to the Pyeongtaek Police Station. Four were placed in custody, while the other four were released.

The four detained allegedly filmed themselves chanting anti-U.S. slogans against the 7th Air Force, which they accused of interfering in a semiconductor cluster project in the southwestern city of Gwangju by raising concerns about its impact on U.S. military interests. The group also protested a recent white phosphorous leak at the base.

The Suwon District Court granted the arrest warrants for three of them following a hearing earlier in the day. The court, however, denied the warrant for one of them.

Police plan to refer the three arrested to prosecutors for potential indictment after wrapping up its investigation, while continuing probes into the rest of the activists.