Protests greet Bush amid tight S. Korean security
Protests greet Bush amid tight S. Korean security
Paul Eckert, Reuters, Seoul
South Korea's capital bristled with 20,000 riot police on Wednesday as U.S. President George W. Bush met President Kim Dae- jung for talks on security and took a look into North Korea, which he has called part of an "axis of evil".
With leftist activists staging all-day protests against Bush's tough stance on North Korea, the U.S. leader's route to Seoul's Blue House presidential mansion was lined with fur-capped police with riot gear.
A brief alarm was raised when thick black plumes of smoke rose in central Seoul several blocks from the U.S. embassy and near the office of Boeing, a target of protests against U.S. arms sales to South Korea.
Firemen quickly quelled the blaze, which they said started in a seafood restaurant and had no link with anti-U.S. protests.
In the largest of left-wing rallies, police got in a shoving match with the front line of a 1,000-strong evening protest, then turned on local journalists, pummeling a South Korean television reporter and punching several photographers, witnesses said.
About 30 activists clashed with police in the morning, trading punches after they were prevented from delivering a protest letter to Bush at the Blue House. They were detained.
At Seoul's Maroni Park, hundreds of protesters, mostly radical students and farmers, marched against Bush's visit and burned home-made U.S. flags.
In a news conference after his talks with President Kim, Bush stood by his tough words, saying North Korean leader Kim Jong-il had to earn his trust, but that the United States had no intention of attacking the North.
"I will not change my opinion on Kim Jong-il until he frees his people and accepts genuine proposals from countries such as South Korea to dialog," Bush said.
"I am concerned about a country that is not transparent, that develops weapons of mass destruction," he said.
South Koreans fear Bush will, at best, destroy Kim's delicate "Sunshine Policy" of rapprochement with North Korea and, at worst, bring his war on terrorism to their doorstep.
Seoul and its 15 million people lie within artillery range of North Korea's million-strong army. The United States has 37,000 troops in the South and South Korea's forces number 680,000.
The two Koreas are still in a technical state of war since their 1950-53 war ended in an armed truce.
South Korea had been bracing for tougher Bush words to come.
"Officials here are keeping fingers crossed Bush would make no 'surprise remarks', heightening tensions unnecessarily," said the Korea Herald in an editorial on Wednesday.
President Kim said he and Bush saw eye to eye.
"President Bush and I agreed to work with mutually consistent and objective strategies in close consultation in pursuing North Korean policy," he told the news conference.
"I greatly appreciate President Bush's staunch support for our Sunshine Policy as well as the U.S.'s unconditional proposal for dialog with North Korea," he said.
Bush's tough words have gone down well with older Koreans, including Korean War veterans and refugees from communist rule.
"Describing the North as a member of the 'axis of evil' is a rather strong expression, but it's not mistaken," said An Ung-mo, 71, leader of a group of Northern-born South Koreans.
Many ordinary Koreans have also been upset by Bush's "axis of evil" description of their communist cousins.