A prep course for the month-long World Cup soccer tournament, a worldwide pheno

roadcasting properties . If so , it could have multibillion-dollar consequences 

for Murdoch and the company he controls , News Corp. Ltd. The six stations in Wa

shington , Los Angeles , New York , Chicago , Dallas and Houston formed the basi

s for the Fox television network , which in 1987 became the first in a generatio

n to gain a foothold against the established Big Three . Federal Communications 

Commission officials confirmed Wednesday that they are close to completing their

 review , which was prompted by a complaint from a division of the National Asso

ciation for the Advancement of Colored People . It contends the current ownershi

p is illegal and has served to squeeze out minority groups who want to buy stati

ons . If the FCC reverses its approval of Murdoch 's 1985 purchase , it could ta

ke the unusual step of revoking the stations ' licenses or order a restructuring

 of the current ownership . Murdoch 's attorneys contend that the original sale 

was proper . They told the FCC last week that revocation of the licenses would l

ead to `` the likely demise of the Fox network . '' The key question facing the 

FCC is who owns the stations Murdoch , a naturalized American citizen , or News 

Corp. , an Australian company . Federal law prohibits a foreign company or indiv

idual from owning more than 25 percent of a broadcast outlet . Passed in 1934 , 

the law was designed to prevent foreign governments from using radio ( and later

 television ) to influence the American public unduly , particularly during wart

ime . Ironically , the issue is coming to a head just as Murdoch has struck anot

her big station deal . Last week , News Corp. said it would spend $ 500 million 

for a nonvoting 20 percent interest in New World Communications , a company that

 owns or is buying 12 TV stations around the country . Attorneys for Murdoch say

 the 1985 deal complies with the foreign ownership law for two reasons . First ,

 Murdoch became an American citizen before the deal was final , renouncing his A

ustralian citizenship in 1985 . Second , Murdoch pledged in 1985 that he and his

 chief American lieutenant , Barry Diller , personally would control the six sta

tions . ( Fox subsequently bought two others ) . The acquisition was structured 

so that Murdoch and Diller own stock carrying 76 percent of the voting rights in

 a holding company that owns the stations . News Corp. , which Murdoch headed th

en as now , received a second class of stock that represents 24 percent of the v

oting rights in the holding company . That is just below the 25 percent limit th

at would have triggered the foreign ownership prohibition . `` The intent of the

 structure was to comply with the statute , '' said William Reyner , who represe

nts Fox . But FCC officials now say they didn't know all they needed to know abo

ut the deal . Murdoch 's application for FCC approval did not make one point exp

licit : News Corp. was to supply virtually all of the money used to complete the

 purchase . After repeated questioning in recent months by the FCC , Murdoch 's 

attorneys at Hogan & Hartson of Washington acknowledged last week that more than

 99 percent of the equity capital came from the Australian company . `` If we kn

ew that equity control in excess of ( 25 percent ) was in the hands of aliens , 

we would have raised the question '' in 1985 , said Roy Stewart , the chief of t

he FCC 's division responsible for television and radio licenses . Murdoch and D

iller put down relatively little for their controlling shares $ 760,000 , or 0.0

013 percent of the cash purchase price . ( Murdoch bought out Diller 's preferre

d shares in 1992 , after Diller left Fox to become head of the QVC cable network

 ) . The issue for the FCC is whether people who put in such a small portion of 

the total equity capital could truly be said to control the company . Stewart sa

id the FCC didn't know about the 99 percent contribution because News Corp. and 

Murdoch had not settled their financing arrangements when they filed for governm

ent approval . `` They certified that they were financially qualified to make th

e purchase and would comply with the ( alien ownership ) statute , '' Stewart sa

id . The only apparent disclosure made at the time about News Corp. 's financial

 participation was an attachment to the application . It says that News Corp. wo

uld tap credit lines supplied by `` American , European and Australian banks , '

' and that this money would be `` contributed as capital or loaned to '' Murdoch

 and Diller . Fox 's attorney Reyner responded Wednesday that the actual size of

 the investments are immaterial since an American citizen owns 76 percent of the

 voting stock . Attorney David Honig , representing the NAACP , called the 76/24

 split `` a sham '' designed to evade the foreign ownership restrictions . Revoc

ation of licenses is an extreme step that the FCC takes very rarely . Other poss

ibilities include ordering Murdoch to put more of his own money into the holding

 company that owns the stations . `` Historically , when a bad actor is too big 

, the commission finds a face-saving middle ground , '' said Andrew Jay Schwartz

man , executive director of the Media Access Project , an advocacy group on medi

a issues .

 LOS ANGELES They spent 11 days together in intense deliberations , and managed 

to deliver a unanimous verdict : that Rodney G. King would receive no punitive d

amages from the police officers who beat him . But only moments later , several 

jurors disclosed the sharp divisions that existed as they struggled to strike a 

compromise that would end a case fraught with complex issues . `` It was a very 

tense situation for many of us , '' said the jury 's forewoman , a Filipino-Amer

ican who , without identifying herself , spoke briefly with reporters Wednesday 

before driving away from the courthouse in her van . `` Although we had differen

ces , we still had to resolve them in some way and come to some consensus . '' T

he forewoman described herself as someone with a background in mediation . That 

helped , but the case was vexing at times , she conceded . `` I think when ( we 

had ) both extremes in terms of positions : one being that the officers were jus

t doing their duty , the other feeling that there was excessive force and reckle

ss disregard . '' Another member of the racially mixed jury expressed anger over

 the decision . `` There was no justice here , '' the woman , a black South Pasa

dena seamstress , said before driving away . `` There was no justice at all . ''

 Deliberations in the case were `` very difficult , '' she added . When asked wh

ether she felt former Los Angeles Police Chief Daryl F. Gates was responsible fo

r the King beating , she became agitated and said , `` Yes , I do . Definitely .

 '' ( The judge dismissed the chief as a defendant last month . ) Her comments d

iffered markedly from those of a white juror who said the decision to withhold p

unitive damages was based , at least in part , on the feeling that Los Angeles P

olice Department officers receive inadequate training and are grossly outnumbere

d on the streets . Emphasizing that police work is a dirty job , that juror also

 a woman said she believed the King beating and its aftermath had been `` sad fo

r the police officers . '' Controversy involving the jurors spilled beyond the c

ourtroom . King 's attorney , Milton Grimes , said Wednesday he was told three j

urors `` a native American , a Caucasian male and a Caucasian female '' went tog

ether to a weekend barbecue where `` a substantial amount of alcohol '' was serv

ed . The outing could be the basis for an appeal , Grimes said . `` We don't kno

w the details , '' he said outside the courthouse , adding that a juror from ano

ther federal trial had invited the King jurors to the cookout . `` We 're going 

to look into it , '' Grimes said . The issue was important because `` you drink 

too much you get loose tongues . '' Grimes added : `` The court is concerned it 

was a serious situation . Tongues may have gotten loose . Things may have been s

aid about the case . '' ( Optional add end ) But it was the jurors ' verdict tha

t drew most of the attention from legal analysts Wednesday . Hugh Manes , a Los 

Angeles civil-rights lawyer who has represented many plaintiffs in other police 

brutality cases , said : `` The jurors obviously had a difficult time . '' While

 criticizing the jury 's failure to assess punitive damages against former Los A

ngeles Police Department Sgt. Stacey Koon or Laurence Powell , Manes characteriz

ed the result as one that `` smells of compromise , '' adding that the jury 's e

arlier damage award of $ 3.8 million represents a fair settlement . Like other l

egal experts , Manes speculated that the jurors decided against imposing monetar

y penalties on Koon and Powell because of their jail sentences . `` They are say

ing Powell and Koon wound up in prison , their careers are ruined . There wouldn

't be a lot of point to imposing a punitive damage award , '' Manes said . `` Ov

erall , justice has been done . It could have been done a little better . ( But 

) the jury system has proven once again to be the best in the world . '' Laurie 

Levenson , a Loyola Marymount University law professor , said there were several

 possible explanations for the jury 's action , including the fact that `` this 

jury had already awarded very substantial compensatory damages , and those damag

es already may have ( conveyed ) a bit of a message . `` This jury might have fe

lt that , even though the individual officers did something wrong , the party wi

th the best ability to pay and most responsibility is the city , '' she said . P

aul Hoffman , former legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Sou

thern California and an expert on police misconduct who now runs a private pract

ice in Santa Monica , said : `` The overall message of what the jury did in this

 case is to send an important signal that police abuse willn't be tolerated . ''

 But Hoffman also expressed surprise that no punitive damages were awarded . `` 

It 's a very important thing in a case like this for officers to be personally o

n the line , '' Hoffman said . `` That 's the one major problem with the verdict

 the taxpayers will pay the $ 3.8 million and the officers willn't pay anything 

. Officers who commit this kind of misconduct should pay something personally . 

''

 WASHINGTON The Clinton administration has decided to seek some form of internat

ional economic sanctions against North Korea , if Pyongyang continues to flout i

nternational nuclear weapons inspectors , and the United States soon will begin 

sounding out its allies about possible action , officials said Wednesday . The e

ffort would be launched only if the U.N.-affiliated International Atomic Energy 

Agency , which is conducting the inspections , formally declares that Pyongyang 

's rebuffs have destroyed inspectors ' ability to determine if North Korea has d

iverted fuel to make nuclear weapons . The Vienna , Austria-based agency is expe

cted to issue its report later this week or early next , but U.S. officials said

 they are assuming it will declare North Korea out of compliance , unless Pyongy

ang reverses itself soon . North Korea issued another statement Wednesday saying

 it would not allow inspectors the access they want . But U.S. officials said pr

ivately they believe Pyongyang is still considering the international agency 's 

demands . `` The ball is in their court , '' one strategist said . The consensus

 on the U.S. approach was achieved by top administration national security polic

y-makers before President Clinton left for Europe , where he is scheduled to tak

e part in a celebration by the allies of the 50th anniversary of D-Day . Althoug

h Clinton left Washington Wednesday morning , administration officials continued

 to discuss the issue late into the afternoon . The president is expected to rec

eive periodic briefings . Officials said initial American soundings of allies ar

e likely to begin Friday , when Assistant Secretary of State Robert Gallucci is 

scheduled to meet here with envoys from South Korea and Japan . U.S. officials s

aid the central question is how the sanctions should be structured and how tough

 they can be and still win approval of the U.N. . Security Council . The United 

States may have to settle for a gradual imposition of sanctions , particularly i

f China , which has opposed punishing North Korea formally , opposes such a move

 . U.S. officials said they still are unsure how China would vote on the issue .

 The State Department , while rejecting Pyongyang 's statement as unacceptable ,

 continued to hold out hope publicly that North Korea would agree to comply with

 the atomic energy agency 's demands . `` There is no IAEA conclusion yet that N

orth Korea has crossed the line of no return , '' Christine Shelly , the State D

epartment 's deputy spokesman , told reporters Wednesday . She said North Korea 

still has a chance to change its mind . At the same time , Vice President Al Gor

e told reporters that the administration `` will not flinch '' in its showdown w

ith North Korea . `` We 're not rattling sabers we 're just saying the same thin

g that American administrations have been saying since the 1950s , '' he said . 

Administration officials said they still are puzzled over North Korea 's intenti

ons whether it is trying to cover up a nuclear weapons program or merely playing

 a cat-and-mouse game in hopes of prodding the West into offering more economic 

incentives . U.S. intelligence officials said North Korea may well have develope

d one or two nuclear bombs by reprocessing spent fuel rods after it shut down it

s reactor at Yongbyon briefly in 1989 . But they are uncertain any weapons have 

been manufactured . North Korea initially had agreed to allow international insp

ectors to monitor the Yongbyon reactor earlier this year but later barred them f

rom entry . Sir David Hannay , Britain 's U.N. ambassador , told reporters that 

, although `` there is no smoking gun '' at Yongbyon , `` there is circumstantia

l evidence that points in one direction and that is not a direction that makes t

he Security Council comfortable . '' Whether the Council is asked to vote on san

ctions , he said , `` depends on the North Koreans . They have a choice . ''

 BEIJING Decades from now , they will still be remembered as the June 4 Generati

on . They were the young college students and the older , battle-scarred rebels 

, the Communist Party reformers and independent union leaders who converged on B

eijing 's sprawling Tiananmen Square in the months of April , May and June 1989 

in a massive appeal for more freedom . On June 4 , their dreams of a more democr

atic China were crushed when a phalanx of tanks and troops from the elite 27th A

rmy moved into the city , killing hundreds , perhaps thousands , of citizens in 

their path . Five years later , the June 4 Generation is only now coming out of 

its shell and daring to speak cautiously of new ambitions for the world 's most 

populous country and for themselves . In interviews with the Los Angeles Times ,

 two dozen Tiananmen veterans , most of whom spoke on condition that their full 

names not be used , said they have put their political dreams aside and concentr

ated in recent years on their careers . However , a few said they still hope for

 a day when the nation 's politically disenchanted once again take to the great 

central square of Beijing to urge reform of the Communist regime . `` If Tiananm

en happens again , I will support it , '' said Zhang , 21 , who joined the demon

strators in the square when he was a student and who now works for a furniture d

esign company . For the most part , however , the politically repressive years a

fter the crackdown have made the June 4 Generation a much less idealistic lot , 

preoccupied with finding good jobs and starting families . `` I 'm more concerne

d about how to make a living , how to support a family and how to be a good news

paperman , '' said Wu , 24 , a budding journalist and part-time television actor

 . After the army moved into the center of Beijing and enforced martial law , th

e demonstrators in the square and their supporters outside scattered in all dire

ctions . Three of the most prominent student leaders Chai Ling , Li Lu and Wuer 

Kaixi fled to the United States , where they have had considerable trouble adjus

ting to their new lives . One of the three , Li Lu , is an MBA graduate student 

at Columbia University who now believes that business enterprise is the best way

 to liberate China . `` I firmly believe that business is the ultimate force for

 democratic change in China , '' he told a reporter from Business Week magazine 

in March . `` Economic expansion is teaching people they can have a better life 

. Everyone is a capitalist in China now . '' After serving four years in prison 

, Beijing University history student Wang Dan , organizer of the Beijing Student

s Autonomous Federation that played a key role in the demonstrations , remains i

n Beijing under heavy police surveillance . Wang Dan , 25 , continues to speak o

ut in favor of democratic reforms . `` On June 4 , '' he said in a telephone int

erview , `` the government injured not only demonstrators but all of the Chinese

 people . To heal those wounds and to regain popular support , the leadership mu

st reverse the verdict on June 4 . '' The two men charged by the Chinese governm

ent with being the `` black hands '' behind the Tiananmen protests , intellectua

ls Wang Juntao and Chen Ziming , were recently released from prison on medical p

arole as part of the government 's effort to meet human rights conditions set by

 the Clinton administration for the renewal of China 's preferential trading sta

tus with the United States . But according to a report recently compiled by the 

international organizations Human Rights in China and Human Rights Watch/Asia , 

at least 200 more June 4 demonstrators remain in jail . Five years after the cra

ckdown , it is still dangerous to speak publicly about the events described by t

he government as a `` counterrevolutionary riot . '' Despite the passage of time

 , the Chinese people still have not won back the freedoms they enjoyed in the y

ears just before the crackdown , when economic reforms had begun to bring new we

alth to the land . Naturally , this has caused many to wonder if China might not

 have made more progress in areas of civil rights and democratic reforms if the 

demonstrations in Tiananmen had never taken place , or at least not reached the 

point of confrontation that allowed hard-line political factions to call in the 

troops . `` Every June 4 since then , '' Wu said , `` my wife and I drink a lot 

of beer , smoke Marlboros and shout . I still can't believe that people died . T

his result was a lot worse than no result at all . Still , I 'm convinced it was

n't useless . At least the government had to bring out its troops to stop us . '

' ( Optional add end ) `` If viewed from a short-term perspective , '' said Zhou

 Duo , a former Beijing University lecturer , `` the 1989 student protests and J

une 4 have hurt the cause of political reform in China . Many ordinary people no

w associate democracy with chaos and violence and are therefore afraid of it . '

' In 1989 , Zhou , 44 , was a supporter of the reform wing of the Communist Part

y headed by former party General Secretary Zhao Ziyang . After 1989 , Zhao was r

emoved from leadership and placed under virtual house arrest , although Japanese

 diplomats claim that they occasionally see him on one of Beijing 's golf course

s . Zhou , whose recent efforts to launch a tourism business outside Beijing wer

e unsuccessful , spent several months in jail on charges that he acted as an `` 

unauthorized '' negotiator , representing the Zhao Ziyang faction , with the stu

dents demonstrating in Tiananmen Square . `` Although the protests in 1989 resul

ted in a reversal of liberalization and reform , I think that few of us who took

 part in the movement regret our actions then , '' Zhou said . Perhaps the most 

negative result of June 4 , Zhou lamented , was the chilling effect it has had o

n the subsequent generation of students . `` On college campuses today , '' he s

aid , `` the main two goals of students are to go abroad or to become rich . Few

 young people want to get involved in politics because they believe they can't c

hange the system or that it is too dangerous to try . People have become pessimi

stic , so they channel their energy into making money and concentrating on their

 own future . '' In some cases , democracy movement demonstrators have made surp

rising accommodation with the forces that opposed them . Li , 27 , was a student

 in Shanghai and an active participant in that city 's pro-democracy movement . 

By chance , he was out of the city on the day of the crackdown and thus avoided 

political prosecution . His clean slate allowed him to take a high-paying job wi

th a People 's Liberation Army-owned company , with such perks as an imported ca

r and an apartment in Hong Kong . `` Every day when I drive to work I feel very 

lucky I was not there on June 4 , '' he said . Wang , 26 , was a student at the 

Central Institute of Drama when the events of Tiananmen began to unfold . He jum

ped into the movement enthusiastically , joining a hunger strike for more democr

atic rights . But after the June 4 crackdown , he found it hard to get a job . E

mployers demanded that he first write a self-criticism detailing his actions in 

the square . Tall and handsome , he recently won some plum parts on Chinese tele

vision and seems on the verge of becoming a matinee idol . Looking back , he now

 sees his actions in 1989 as naive . `` I don't regret them at all , '' he said 

, `` but they ( the Tiananmen protests ) had a negative effect on the art world