** ADVANCE FOR USE SUNDAY, MARCH 20, 2011 AND THEREAFTER ** FILE - In this June 15, 1987 file picture, a South Korean student sprays a flaming aerosol can as riot police respond with a fire extinguisher during an anti-government demonstration at Yonsei University in Seoul, Korea. In 1987, military rule in Sough Korea ended with a direct presidential election. For almost 40 years, Freedom House think tank's New York researchers have annually assessed the state of democracy and associated freedoms, classifying nations in three categories _ free, partly free or not free. Almost half the world's nations were rated not free in 1972, but by 2010 that proportion had dropped below one-quarter. (AP Photo/Itsuo Inouye, File)