Massive protest called for Bush visit to South Korea
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SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korean activists said on Monday they planned a large candlelight rally to protest U.S. President George W. Bush's visit on Tuesday and demand the two countries scrap a widely criticized beef import deal.
Bush is expected in Seoul to shore up support for North Korea's decision to disable its nuclear arms program and the trip is likely to be his last as president to East Asia before going to Bangkok and then Beijing to attend the 2008 Olympics.
"We oppose the visit by Bush who sells U.S. beef with its risk of mad cow disease that threatens the health and lives of the public," a coalition of activist groups said in a statement.
The groups have been behind two months of at times violent street protests against the young government of President Lee Myung-bak, sparked by his deal to end a ban on U.S. beef imports.
Lee agreed the deal in April during his first overseas trip after taking office when Bush hosted him at Camp David, only to see it backfire at home.
"Just as Lee paid a big price to stay at Camp David in April, Bush will be looking to go home with a big catch," the protest coalition said.
The street protests have since dwindled as the summer holiday season has arrived but police said they will be on high alert for the short Bush visit. He arrives on Tuesday and leaves the following day.
The election of Lee, a conservative former CEO, had been expected to mark a fresh start to ties.
Relations had become strained under Lee's left-leaning predecessor who won office five years earlier amid a wave of anti-Americanism and differences on how to deal with North Korea, which Bush once dubbed part of an axis of evil.
Lee came to the presidency with promises to get much tougher with the North if it did not give up its nuclear weapons development.
The protesters' grievances include a free-trade deal signed last year between South Korea and the United States that some estimates said could lift their annual $80 billion two-way trade by as much as a quarter.
Surveys show a majority of South Koreans support the deal. Neither countries' legislature has ratified it.
Lee struck the beef import deal in April after U.S. lawmakers said Congress would not approve the free-trade pact unless Seoul fully opened its market to American beef.
In June, South Korean and U.S. trade officials reworked the beef deal to mollify a Korean public worried about mad cow disease.
(Reporting by Jack Kim; Editing by Jonathan Thatcher)
