- SEOUL (Reuters) - Thousands
of South Koreans chanted songs and slogans by candle-light in the heart
of Seoul on Tuesday to protest against the U.S. military and mourn two
teenage girls killed by an American army vehicle in an accident.
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- The protesters shrugged off deepening international concern
over North Korea's nuclear brinkmanship, some criticising U.S. efforts
to press Pyongyang to scrap its atomic arms programme, and others slamming
the campaign against Iraq.
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- Spurning President-elect Roh Moo-hyun's call for restraint
after months of anti-U.S. demonstrations, organisers have vowed to gather
a million people in the centre of Seoul for the largest of more than 50
protests since the girls deaths in June.
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- Police said the turnout on a chilly New Year's Eve was
more likely to be about 20,000. By late evening, the crowd was upward of
10,000 but more were coming in, witnesses said.
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- Police were taking no chances, deploying more than 10,000
helmeted riot police and hundreds of buses to block planned marches on
the U.S. embassy.
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- The protests follow the election two weeks ago of Roh,
who tapped anti-U.S. sentiment in his campaign, and take place as a nuclear
weapons row between North Korea and the United States and its allies escalates.
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- Min Keong-min, joining the rally with his two daughters,
said he wasn't sure North Korea really had nuclear arms.
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- "If they do, I don't think North Korea is going
to aim them at South Korea. The North probably built them to protect itself
from the United States," said the 41-year-old Min.
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- The youthful protesters, holding candles and singing
songs, demanded that two U.S. soldiers involved in the June road accident
undergo a new trial and that U.S. President George W. Bush apologise again
for the accident.
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- A U.S. military tribunal acquitted the pair of negligent
homicide charges last month after their mine-clearing vehicle crushed the
two girls during a training exercise.
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- "Bush, apologise directly!" said a huge yellow
banner next to a stage where pop singers performed amid nationalistic speeches.
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- Bush has apologised several times over the incident,
most recently in a telephone conversation with South Korean President Kim
Dae-jung on December 13, when he conveyed his "deep, personal sadness
and regret" over the deaths.
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- But the anti-U.S. activists and many South Korean media
outlets have dismissed the apologies as insincere.
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- "Declare the trial invalid and completely revise
the SOFA," chanted student members of the Committee for the Deceased
Girls.
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- The Status of Forces Agreement, governing the rights
and conduct of U.S. forces in Korea, is a major target of the protesters.
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- The pact currently requires U.S. soldiers charged with
crimes while on duty to be tried in U.S. military tribunals. Protesters
seek wider South Korean jurisdiction over U.S. servicemen.
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- Pamphlets distributed by protesters condemned Roh for
being "passive" on the SOFA issue after he had won elections
on December 19 calling for more equal relations with Washington.
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- South Koreans are ambivalent about the 37,000 U.S. troops
stationed at nearly 100 installations in their country -- a military presence
that dates back to the 1950-53 Korean War.
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- The Korean War ended in an armed truce that has kept
the two Koreas in a technical state of war ever since.
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- The troops are meant to deter North Korean aggression
against the South. North Korea has some 10,000 artillery pieces and much
of its 1.1 million strong army arrayed along the sealed border with the
South less than an hour's drive from Seoul.
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