SirStefan32

South Koreans Split Over Alliance With United States

Saturday, August 16, 2003

SEOUL, South Korea — Some 2,000 activists and students rallied near the main U.S. military base in Seoul on Saturday, demanding an end to South Korea-U.S. alliance. Several blocks away, 500 demonstrators marched in support of the Americans.

The protests highlighted the division among South Koreans on how they view their nation's closest ally and biggest trade partner amid tensions over North Korea's suspected development of nuclear weapons.

"Throw out South Korea-U.S. alliance! Let's preserve peace through South-North cooperation!" read banners held by the anti-U.S. group near Yongsan Garrison in central Seoul.

Occupying a six-lane boulevard in front of the American base, about 2,000 protesters demanded the withdrawal of U.S. troops stationed in South Korea.

"As long as the U.S. military stays here, there will be no peace on the Korean peninsula," said Kwon Young-kil, a protest leader and head of the Democratic Labor Party (search).

The so-called "pro-unification" activists have been critical of the U.S. policy toward North Korea in efforts to resolve the nuclear tension.

They supported North Korea's demand for a nonaggression treaty with the United States in return for giving up its nuclear programs. Washington rejects such a treaty, but says it could provide a less formal guarantee.

About 550 yards away, 500 Korean War veterans and activists gathered in a pro-U.S. rally, many waving both South Korean and U.S. flags. They criticized anti-U.S. protesters of hurting the "blood-tied alliance" between the South Korea and the United States, which fought with South Korea against communist North Korea in the 1950-53 Korean War.

Although most South Koreans support the U.S. military presence, the deaths of two Korean girls run over by an U.S. military vehicle last year had triggered large anti-U.S. protests throughout South Korea late last year.

The United States keeps 37,000 troops in South Korea, a legacy of the Korean War that ended in a cease-fire but left the peninsula divided.

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Krangthebrain

I love it how, even when we help countries, we still get shafted no matter what.

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Renz

It is amazing how little some people know about history. In S. Korea many of the older generation appreciate the U.S. presence and what we did to help S. Korea.

The younger generation, who dislike the U.S., must not realize that the south had basically been defeated by the communists until the U.S./UN pushed them back above the 38th Parallel.

I wonder how much those protesters would have liked living under Kim IL-Sung and Kim Jong-Il?

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FischerKing

Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

Hilarious - when I was stationed for my year in Seoul - they police in riot gear were parked outside our base once a month because they were constantly protesting. If you didn't get off base before 9 AM on that Saturday, you weren't going to get off until they broke up the crowds.

Ah yes, found memories of smelling teargas wafting through my open barracks window in the morning...

It was so stupid - we had a schedule posted in our barracks as to when they were going to occur. I wonder why all of a sudden it's news - whatever...

Shawn

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WaywardFan

Shawn,

Where were you stationed?

My father used to sit alert on Osan, and our family made a trip up there via MAC once. Pretty country.

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FischerKing

I was stationed in Seoul from Feb. '93 to April '94 at Yongsan - which is the base that they were talking about.

I've been to Osan and Pusan - very nice areas of South Korea.

Shawn

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"Arguing on the internet is like running in the special olympics... Even if
you win, you are still retarded..."

"I can't trust a woman who would marry me." ~ AzCards21

"I don't care what you believe, keep your religion out of my peanut butter!" ~ Assface