South Koreans march in Seoul to oppose war in Iraq

SEOUL (AFP) Mar 29, 2003
Hundreds of South Koreans opposed to the US-led war against Iraq and South Korea's dispatch of troops there marched through city streets and scuffled with riot police here Saturday, witnesses said.

The protestors burned a US flag laid upon a model of South Korea's National Assembly building and waved portraits of US President George W. Bush marked with the symbols of Nazis.

"No war, no war," they chanted while marching in the busy Jongro district. They also chanted slogans urging South Korea's parliament to reject a government motion to send 700 non-combatants to help coalition forces in Iraq.

Rows of riot police kept the 2,000 demonstrators some 200 meters (660 feet) away from the US embassy.

Fearing public backlash, South Korea's parliament has twice put off the government motion to send 100 military medics and 600 army engineers to support the coalition forces.

There have been mounting concerns that the United States might apply military means to North Korea as it does to Iraq when the focus of international attention moves on to the North following the current war.

Since the outbreak of hostilities in the Middle East, South Korea has been witnessing daily protests in public parks, in streets and outside the US embassy in Seoul.

WAR.WIRE