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SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - Hundreds of South Korean (news - web sites) workers and students traded kicks and punches with riot police Saturday during a rally protesting the nation's harsh anti-communist law.

Critics have accused past military governments of using the law, which calls North Korea (news - web sites) an enemy state and bars any activities that may help it, to suppress political dissent. They say it is no longer needed amid a thaw in relations with communist North.

``Repeal the national security law!'' some 2,000 protesters shouted during the rally in a Seoul park. Scuffles broke out with a few hundred when riot police, armed with helmets and plastic shields, formed human barriers to keep the students from spilling onto the streets.

Police later let the demonstrators into the streets to march through downtown.

Protesters complained that President Kim Dae-jung (news - web sites) has not kept an election promise to revise or repeal the controversial law, which makes even possession of Marxist literature a crime punishable by a long prison term. The law has not been strictly enforced in recent years.

Ruling and opposition lawmakers introduced a bill last month to abolish the law, but it faces strong resistance in the country's one-house parliament, the National Assembly. Many legislators believe that it is premature to change or repeal the law.

Kim is to receive the Nobel Peace Prize on Sunday in Oslo for his pro-democracy activities and efforts to reconcile with North Korea. The two Koreas are seeking reconciliation following Kim's historic summit in June with North Korean leader Kim Jong Il.

Many South Koreans agree on the need to revise the law, but not on abolishing it entirely. They demand that North Korea also should abolish or revise its tough security law against South Korea.