Bush Faces Protests Upon Arrival in South Korea
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
SEOUL, South Korea — President Bush held off on visiting Seoul earlier this year when protesters held nightly candlelight vigils and clashed with riot police in anger over government plans to resume imports of American beef.
The protests faded and meat shipments began. But Mr. Bush’s arrival today is shaping up as a new flashpoint as anti-government demonstrators say they will raise their cries again, facing off against pro-American groups planning a show of support for the country’s longtime ally.
South Koreans remain generally positive in public opinion surveys about America, which helped repel North Korea in the 1950-53 Korean war and still deploys some 28,500 troops on the Korean peninsula to deter an attack.
Voters elected a conservative, pro-American president, Lee Myung-bak, who took office in February with promises to patch up relations with Washington that became strained under Seoul’s previous decade of liberal governments.
