Scuffles at South Korea torch leg

[The Smoking Man]

Scuffles at South Korea torch leg

Pro and anti-China demonstrators have clashed in South Korea's capital, Seoul, during the latest leg of the Olympic torch's journey to Beijing.

Rights protesters were targeted by Chinese students, who outnumbered their rivals along the 24-km (15-mile) relay route from Olympic Park to City Hall.

The protests had been against China's forced repatriation of North Korean refugees and its crackdown in Tibet.

The clashes came despite the deployment of 8,000 police to ensure calm.

Police struggled to contain thousands of flag-waving China supporters who chanted slogans and threw rocks at demonstrators denouncing the torch relay.

Meanwhile, police managed to restrain one North Korean defector who tried to set himself on fire to halt the procession.

Nagano clashes

Security for the Seoul relay included 120 police runners and a helicopter.

South Korean authorities had warned anyone trying to disrupt the relay would be severely punished.

The torch had arrived in South Korea from Japan, where four people were injured and five men arrested in scuffles.

More than 3,000 police could not stop Japanese nationalists and pro-Tibet activists clashing with pro-Chinese groups in the mountain resort of Nagano on Saturday.

A coalition of human rights groups in South Korea had warned of similar scenes during the relay in central Seoul, and protesters had threatened to stop the Olympic beacon crossing one of the main river bridges in the city.

But they were vastly outnumbered by the thousands of Chinese people who study or work in South Korea who had taken to the streets to welcome the torch.

The US embassy had cautioned its citizens in Seoul to avoid unnecessary travel during the relay, which started shortly after 1400 local time (0600 BST).

In addition to protests against the Chinese occupation of Tibet, the relay is also seen as an opportunity to raise the issue of China's policy of repatriating North Korean defectors.

Human rights lawyer Kim Sang-chul told Yonhap, a South Korean news agency, that China had repatriated 75,000 North Koreans over the past 15 years.

"China tries to promote itself as a civilised nation but what it's doing to the defectors is uncivilised," he said.

Next stop north

The torch will now travel to North Korea and Vietnam before arriving on Chinese soil.

The BBC's John Sudworth in Seoul says Monday's Pyongyang leg is guaranteed to be trouble-free.

North Korea tolerates no public protest and the torch will be greeted by hundreds of thousands of people in a choreographed mass display of flower-waving, he says.

Protests elsewhere on the torch's progress have turned the celebratory tour of 20 countries into what analysts describe as a public-relations disaster for Beijing.

Demonstrations in Athens, London, Paris and San Francisco have dominated media coverage of the relay.

But the flame has made relatively peaceful progress through other cities, including Bangkok in Thailand and Dar es Salaam in Tanzania.

[The Smoking Man]

Chinese drown out protesters in S. Korea Olympic torch leg

by Jun Kwanwoo 44 minutes ago

Thousands of Chinese shouting support for the Beijing Games turned a central Seoul plaza into a sea of red flags as the Olympic torch ended its South Korean relay without disruption Sunday amid a huge police presence.

Anti-China activists failed in their efforts to block the torch but were involved in sporadic stone-throwing clashes with Beijing's supporters, who vastly outnumbered them.

Police deployed 8,300 regular and anti-riot officers backed up by two helicopters. No disruptions were reported along the 24-kilometre (15-mile) route, the latest leg in a troubled worldwide journey.

"Go, go, China!" Chinese residents yelled, roaring their approval as the torch arrived outside City Hall. "One China!" they shouted in reference to pro-Tibet protests elsewhere.

Some 300 protesters at the start in Olympic Park were mainly angry at China's forced repatriation of North Korean refugees. They were dwarfed by more than 6,000 pro-China demonstrators, according to police estimates.

A brief clash at the park between the two groups ended when riot police carrying shields separated them. Some Chinese threw water bottles, stones, chunks of wood and drink cans at their adversaries.

Nearby, witnesses said Chinese students surrounded and beat up a small group of protesters. They said a local newspaper photographer suffered a head injury from a stone thrown by the students.

A middle-aged man claiming to have fled North Korea tried to set himself on fire in protest at the event, according to a witness quoted by Yonhap news agency.

The man poured what appeared to be flammable liquid over himself near the torch bearer but was immediately stopped by police, it said.

Police tightly guarded local subway stations and the relay route, including Han river bridges which demonstrators had vowed to block.

They said they arrested four people -- a Chinese student for hurling a stone at protesters and three demonstrators for trying to disrupt the relay. Two policemen were injured.

China sends back all those North Koreans it catches as economic migrants, a policy strongly criticised by rights groups. Refugees face severe punishment, or even reportedly a death sentence in some cases, on their return.

Activists say China has been stepping up repatriations before the Olympics and has increased rewards for tip-offs. Former North Korean refugees who have settled in Seoul were among the protesters.

"China, stop killing North Korean refugees," read one banner. Some activists in a skit depicted the return of a hooded and bound North Korean.

US-based Human Rights Watch has said Seoul should use the occasion to urge Beijing to change its policy on North Korean refugees.

Reverend Soh Kyung-Suk, co-chairman of Christians for Social Responsibility, criticised the response of the Chinese students to the protests as "not democratic."

"China, which does not respect human rights, is not entitled to host the Olympics," he told AFP. "It is a shame for South Korea to tolerate the Olympic torch relay for such a country."

But the students were not inclined to let anyone spoil modern China's coming-out party this August.

"The Olympics should be successful and will be successful," said a 26-year-old e-commerce student who identified himself only as Wang.

He carried a huge Chinese flag and another was painted on his face.

"One China and One Nation. The pro-Tibetan demonstrators are liars," Wang said.

"Tibet was, is, will always be a part of China," read one banner.

The torch was to be flown late Sunday to communist North Korea, a strong ally of Beijing, which has arranged a major protest-free welcome.

Meanwhile, a special Olympic flame arrived at Mount Everest base camp Sunday, an attempt by Beijing Games organisers to bring the symbol to the top of the world's highest mountain, China's official Xinhua news agency said.

[The Smoking Man]

Korean tries to set himself on fire during Seoul torch run

By KWANG-TAE KIM, Associated Press Writer
Sun Apr 27, 11:19 AM ET

A North Korean defector tried to set himself on fire to halt the Olympic torch relay through Seoul, while thousands of police guarded the flame Sunday from protesters blasting China's treatment of North Korean refugees.

Hundreds of China supporters waving the Chinese flag greeted the torch, throwing rocks at anti-Beijing demonstrators. Police ran alongside the flame and rode horses and bicycles on the relay across the city, which hosted the 1988 Olympics.

The torch relay has become a lightning rod for anti-China demonstrations. At other stops, protesters have focused their ire on Beijing's recent crackdown on anti-government riots in Tibet. But in South Korea, China's treatment of North Korean defectors has taken center stage.

Thousands of North Koreans, fleeing lives of hardship in a country that restricts all civil liberties, have escaped across the loosely controlled Chinese border, rather than attempt the heavily fortified frontier with the South. Many live in hiding in China, where if caught, they are deported back home to face imprisonment in life-threatening conditions.

The man who tried to immolate himself, 45-year-old Son Jong Hoon, had led an unsuccessful public campaign to save his brother from execution in the North, where he was accused of spying after the two met secretly in China. About an hour into the relay, Son poured gasoline on himself and tried to light himself on fire, but police stopped him.

At the start of the relay, a protester rushed toward the Olympic flame and tried to unfurl a banner calling for China to respect the rights of North Korean refugees. Dozens of police surrounding the torch quickly whisked him away. As it approached the city center, another North Korean defector also tried to impede the run and was arrested.

Police said a total of five people were arrested. A police official near Olympic Park said one of the five was a Chinese student who was under investigation for allegedly throwing rocks. The official requested not to be named because an investigation was under way.

There were no further attempts to stop the torch on its 4 1/2-hour trip through Seoul to City Hall, where it was met by some 5,000 supporters.

Some 8,000 police were deployed across the South Korean capital to guard the torch on its 15-mile run from Olympic Park.

The first runner, the South's Korean Olympic Committee head Kim Jung-kil, jogged out of the park surrounded by police on horseback, on bicycles, in buses and on foot.

Thousands of Chinese also paced the torch. They carried a large red Chinese flag, chanting "Go China, go Olympics!"

Scuffles broke out near the park between a group of 500 Chinese supporters and about 50 demonstrators. The Chinese side threw stones and water bottles at the others as some 2,500 police tried to keep the two groups apart.

A rock hit a journalist in the head, but there were apparently no other injuries.

"The Olympics are not a political issue," said Sun Cheng, 22, a Chinese student studying the Korean language in Seoul. "I can't understand why the Korean activist groups are protesting human rights or other diplomatic issues."

Seoul is one of the last stops on the torch's international tour, which ends when the flame arrives in Hong Kong on Wednesday. On Sunday, three human rights activists who planned to protest the relay in Hong Kong were barred from entering the Chinese-ruled territory, local media and the one of the activists said.

The torch heads next to North Korea for its first-ever run in the communist country on Monday. Disruptions were not expected in the North, an authoritarian state that tolerates no dissent.

[The Smoking Man]

Clashes around Olympic torch relay in Seoul, flame moves to NKorea

by Jun Kwanwoo
Sun Apr 27, 3:15 PM ET

Supporters and opponents of China clashed in Seoul on Sunday as the Olympic flame passed through the South Korean capital before going to the rival North.

One man who said he was a North Korean defector tried to set himself alight in protest during the torch relay in Seoul, reports said. Thousands of Chinese shouting support for the Beijing Games turned a central Seoul plaza into a sea of red flags, mostly drowning out anti-China activists who they greatly outnumbered.

Anti-China activists failed to block the torch but were involved in stone-throwing clashes with Beijing supporters along the 24-kilometre (15-mile) relay route.

Some 300 people at the relay start in Olympic Park protested China's forced repatriation of North Korean refugees. They were dwarfed by more than 6,000 pro-China supporters, according to police estimates.

Riot police broke up a brief clash at the park between the two groups, with some Chinese throwing water bottles, stones, chunks of wood and cans.

Witnesses said Chinese students beat up a small group of protesters and one threw a stone at a newspaper photographer, hitting him in the head.

Police deployed 8,300 officers backed by two helicopters. They tightly guarded subway stations and the relay route, including the Han river bridges that demonstrators had vowed to block.

Police said they arrested four people -- a Chinese student for hurling a stone at protesters and three demonstrators trying to disrupt the relay. Two policemen were injured.

Among the protesters were North Korean refugees.

A middle-aged man claiming to have fled North Korea tried to set himself on fire in protest at the event, according to a witness quoted by Yonhap news agency. The man poured what appeared to be flammable liquid over himself near the torch bearer but was stopped by police, the agency said.

"China, stop killing North Korean refugees," read one banner.

China sends back all North Koreans it catches, saying they are economic migrants -- a policy strongly criticised by rights groups. Refugees face severe punishment, or even reportedly a death sentence in some cases, on their return.

Activists say China has been stepping up repatriations ahead of the Olympics which start August 8, and Human Rights Watch has said Seoul should urge Beijing to change its policy on North Korean refugees.

"China, which does not respect human rights, is not entitled to host the Olympics," Reverend Soh Kyung-Suk, co-chairman of Christians for Social Responsibility, told AFP. "It is a shame for South Korea to tolerate the Olympic torch relay for such a country."

But the Chinese students were not inclined to let anyone spoil modern China's coming-out party.

"The Olympics should be successful and will be successful," said a 26-year-old e-commerce student who identified himself only as Wang and carried a large Chinese flag.

The torch was expected to receive a trouble-free welcome in North Korea, a close ally of China that has strongly criticised a series of pro-Tibet protests that have dogged other global legs of the relay, notably in Paris and London.

Unauthorised demonstrations are strictly banned in the hardline communist state.

A chartered plane carrying the flame landed at Sunan International Airport in Pyongyang early Monday, China's Xinhua news agency reported.

Nearly 1,000 Koreans and Chinese students welcomed the arrival, cheering and holding banners, some reading "warmly welcome Beijing Olympic Flame arriving in Pyongyang," Xinhua said.

The relay begins at 10:00 am Monday (0100 GMT) and ends about five hours later. Eighty people, including athletes who have competed in international events, will carry the torch, according to official media reports.

Organisers say hundreds of thousands of people will line the 20-kilometre (12-mile) relay route from the Tower of the Juche Idea to Kim Il-Sung Stadium for the event.

A special Olympic flame also arrived Sunday at Mount Everest base camp, an attempt by Beijing Games organisers to bring the symbol to the summit of the world's highest mountain, Xinhua said.

[Drive By]

the smart money is on there being no protests in north korea as people will be too busy basking in the freedom of the revolutio0n.

[The Smoking Man]

the smart money is on there being no protests in north korea as people will be too busy basking in the freedom of the revolutio0n.

Surely you mean basking in the sun shining out of Kim Johng Really Really Ill's ass.

[Polly]

WHAM! BANG BANG ARGHHHH~~

http://www.6park.com/news/messages/80417.html

The girls (air-hostesses from China's Eastern Airlines) were more well behaving.

http://www.6park.com/news/messages/80421.html

[shan]

http://www.shanghaidaily.com/sp/article/2008/200804/20080428/article_357506.htm

BREAKING NEWS IS HERE

is it a  terrorists attack!?

[shan]

another news:  789 children were infected with enterovirus in Fuyang Anhui  ,19 kids died

[Polly]

Xinhua said it was caused by human error and ruled out the possibility of terrorist attack.

I am not so sure of the foot and mouth disease though.