http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking...ry_273527.html
<TABLE class="georgia11 whiteBg" cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=620 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=padlrt10>Aug 30, 2008</TD></TR><TR><TD class=padlrt10>Monk slashes himself in protest
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SEOUL (South Korea) - A BUDDHIST monk slashed himself in South Korea's capital on Saturday to protest alleged religious discrimination by the country's Christian president.
The 60-year-old monk used a knife to slit his stomach at Seoul's Jogye Temple, headquarters of South Korea's largest Buddhist sect bearing the same name, said sect official Lee Mi Ran.
The monk, identified by his Buddhist name, the Venerable Sambo, was taken to a hospital and his condition was not life-threatening, Ms Lee said.
She said the monk left a note written in blood that read, 'The government of (President) Lee Myung Bak should stop oppressing Buddhism'.
Many Buddhists have accused Mr Lee of favouring Christianity over their religion and filling most of his Cabinet and top presidential posts with other Christians.
Buddhists held a massive protest rally in Seoul on Wednesday and demanded Lee apologise. The protest drew at least 60,000 people, including 7,000 monks clad in gray Buddhist garb, according to police
estimates.
The government denies any religious discrimination.
South Koreans sometimes go to extremes in hurting themselves to highlight their causes. News of protesters attempting to set themselves on fire in public is not unusual in this country.
Ms Lee, the Jogye official, said the monk would be given an X-ray and other tests to determine whether his internal organs were damaged.
Yonhap news agency said the cut was 4 inches (10 centimetres) long and 0.2 inches (5 millimetres) deep. Some followers were near the monk when he slashed himself but were unable to stop him, Ms Lee said.
Buddhist temples across the country would hold protest masses on Sunday, she said. -- AP
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Monk slashes himself in protest 
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