Following a violent rally Wednesday, President Roh Moo-hyun repeated warnings to Buan county residents who have been protesting the construction of a nuclear waste dump in their county, saying they will have to calm down first before there can be any dialogue.

In a breakfast meeting with legislators Friday, Roh reiterated his stance that the protesters must express themselves through legal means.

The Roh administration has been persistently challenged by demonstrations by labor unions, farmers and local residents critical of its policies.

Some of those demonstrations have turned violent in recent days, with some protesters resorting to the use of firebombs and steel pipes to attack riot police.

The residents of Buan County on South Korea's west coast are fighting a government decision made in July to build the country's first nuclear waste dump on an islet in the county's vicinity. A rally Wednesday left some 100 people injured.