http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/26/world/asia/activist-in-south-korea-dies-of-injuries-from-police-water-cannon.html 2016-09-25 22:35:55 Activist in South Korea Dies of Injuries From Police Water Cannon The activist, Baek Nam-gi, who had been expelled from school twice for protests against the dictator Park Chung-hee, was injured while opposing Mr. Park’s daughter, President Park Geun-hye. === SEOUL, South Korea — An activist farmer who was expelled from school twice for protesting the rule of the military dictator Park Chung-hee of The farmer, Baek Nam-gi, 68, was struck by a police water cannon last November during the largest antigovernment demonstration under Ms. Park. He had remained in a coma at Seoul National University Hospital since, becoming a symbol of what government critics call rising police brutality and the erosion of freedom of assembly under Ms. Park. After the hospital announced that Mr. Baek had died of kidney failure on Sunday afternoon, hundreds of students and other supporters gathered there. Thousands of police officers were deployed to the hospital over fears that his death might lead to antigovernment protests. In June, Maina Kiai, the special rapporteur at the United Nations on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association, cited Mr. Baek’s case in “In footage made available to the special rapporteur, the water cannon was used against largely peaceful crowds. In certain cases, lone individuals were targeted, a use difficult to justify,” he wrote. “The case of Mr. Baek Nam-gi is a tragic illustration of this.” Mr. Baek was born in 1947 in Boseong in the rural southwest of South Korea. He was expelled from Chung-Ang University in Seoul in 1971 for leading a demonstration against Mr. Park’s deployment of troops on college campuses to intimidate student activists. He was later allowed to re-enroll but was soon on the run from the police for organizing protests against Mr. Park’s constitutional revision aimed at extending his dictatorship. While in hiding in a cathedral in Seoul, he became a Roman Catholic. He was expelled again from school in 1975 but returned after the assassination of Mr. Park by his intelligence chief in 1979. Mr. Baek then led students in a march against Chun Doo-hwan, an army major general who seized power in a coup after Mr. Park’s death. Mr. Chun’s martial-law troops arrested Mr. Baek during raids on school dormitories in 1980. He was expelled from school a third time and was later sentenced to two years in prison. He was freed in 1981. Unlike former student activists who entered politics and became national figures, Mr. Baek devoted himself to advocating for the rights of impoverished rural farmers. Few other South Koreans had heard of Mr. Baek again until the news media reported that a farmer had been The rally in November brought together tens of thousands of South Koreans with various political grievances, including what they called Ms. Park’s authoritarian style. Mr. Baek and other farmers joined the rally to urge the government to help halt the falling price of rice. The police Farmers had marched and held candlelight vigils to pray for Mr. Baek’s recovery, but their demand for a government apology was not met. Instead, the police questioned 1,500 people who participated in the rally, while Ms. Park compared some of the demonstrators wearing masks to terrorists. The police also raided the offices of labor unions, which had helped organize the protest. “His death increases the urgent need for the completion of a thorough, independent and impartial investigation into the excessive use of force on largely peaceful protesters, including Baek Nam-gi himself,” said Nicholas Bequelin, Amnesty International’s East Asia regional director. “To date, not a single officer involved in the case has faced consequences for their actions.” The government had no immediate response to Mr. Baek’s death. Since Ms. Park began her five-year term in early 2013, Mr. Baek is survived by his wife, a son and two daughters, one of whom he named Minjuhwa, or Democratization. “My father was not one of those who wanted to be heroes,” Minjuhwa said in a recent Facebook posting. “He was just an activist who believed in what he did.”