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As a second round of talks on a free trade agreement between Korea and the U.S. got under way in Seoul on Monday, opponents of the FTA promised massive demonstrations during the week.
Activist groups including the Korean Alliance Against a Korea-U.S. FTA vowed some 100,000 would take part in protests at Seoul Plaza and Sejong Boulevard on Wednesday afternoon. Police plan to dispatch 80 percent of all mobile riot police or 20,000 men plus 12 water cannon to hold violent protestors in check. It will be the biggest number of riot police deployed since the 1990s.
Police Commissioner Gen. Lee Taek-soon told reporters his agency was always open to dialogue with the protestors and promised to safeguard their freedom of speech while dealing rigorously with violence and illegal acts.
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Police tussle with protesters against a Korea-U.S. free trade agreement, near the Shilla Hotel in Seoul on Monday. Some 27 provincial units were ordered to Seoul to back the capital’s 100 mobile riot police units in Seoul to prevent violence, some 20 of them stationed around the hotel where the U.S. delegation is staying.
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On Monday, some 180 activists rallied around the Shilla Hotel, the venue of the FTA talks, but dispersed at 1 p.m. without clashing with police. At a press conference earlier, a spokesman for the activist groups said an FTA with U.S. would result in restructuring at big Korean and U.S. conglomerates, and therefore cost jobs and threaten livelihoods.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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