WORLD> Asia-Pacific
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WORLD> Asia-Pacific
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Massive protest in South Korea against Bush's visit
(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-08-04 17:00 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 US lawmakers said Congress would not approve the free-trade pact unless Seoul fully opened its market to American beef. In June, South Korean and US trade officials reworked the beef deal to mollify a Korean public worried about mad cow disease. |
