Pro US rallies

[sfc_darrel]

Pro-U.S. Rallies Draw Crowds in S. Korea

South Korean protesters burn a North Korean flag carrying the image of North Korean leader Kim Jong Il in this JAn. 11, 2003 file photo during an anti-North Korea rally in front of Seoul City Hall in Seoul. More than 30,000 protesters attended the rally to demand North Korea abandon its nuclear weapons development programs. The banners read "Oppose the withdrawal of U.S. soldiers from South Korea." As tension builds over North Korea's suspected nuclear weapons program, pro-American rallies are drawing big crowds in the South Korean capital. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)


February 22, 2003 05:53 PM EST


SEOUL, South Korea - Not long ago, angry chants of "murderous American GIs" and the somber flicker of anti-U.S. candlelight vigils once filled the downtown streets of Seoul.

But as tension builds over North Korea's suspected nuclear weapons program, pro-American rallies are drawing big crowds in the South Korean capital.

"The majority has been silent too long," said Kim Bum-soo, who is helping organize a major pro-U.S. demonstration March 1 urging Washington to keep its troops here.

Supporters hope to attract 500,000 people. It follows two pro-American rallies last month that each attracted tens of thousands to support South Korea's top ally.

The more vocal pro-American mood swing is a turnaround from just months ago when tens of thousands of South Koreans joined candlelit protests and chanted down the U.S. military after the deaths of two South Korean girls struck by an American vehicle.

At that time, pro-U.S. counterrallies managed to muster only dozens. Now with the tide shifted, anti-U.S. protests are now small and localized, such as a recent one opposing a construction project at a U.S. base.

Giving impetus to the turnaround is talk in Washington of cutting back on the 37,000 U.S. troops based in South Korea as a deterrent against a North Korean attack.

Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said last week that the United States is working to see if it should restructure or reduce its forces or possibly move troops away from Seoul or the demilitarized zone separating the two Koreas.

And Gen. Leon J. LaPorte, commander of the U.S. military in Korea, acknowledged Thursday that Seoul and Washington need to reassess their 50-year-old military alliance.

That's chilling news to many in South Korea, especially the older generation that remembers the North Korean invasion that sparked the 1950-53 war.

No one has indicated that such a troop adjustment is imminent, and analysts say it would be unlikely to happen during the current North Korean standoff. But to many South Koreans, it is premature to even talk about tinkering with defenses while North Korea is believed to be sitting on one or two atomic bombs and trying to develop more.

[catman]

Seems the Koreans can turn the other cheek faster than a lying Congress man caught with his hand in the cookie jar!