Police said some 30,000 people convened on the grassy plaza in front of Seoul City Hall for a Christian service, while large South Korean and U.S. flags were held aloft by balloons overhead along with a banner reading, "Welcome President Bush."
"The United States made sacrifices for South Korea during the Korean War and helped us live well," said Kim Jung–kwang, a 67–year–old retired air force colonel who attended the rally wearing his military uniform. "The United States is not our enemy. Without the U.S., we will die."
As evening approached, an estimated 20,000 anti–Bush protesters gathered nearby. Twelve demonstrators were arrested, along with another 12 at an earlier attempted demonstration near the military airport where Bush landed, police said.
Bush held off on visiting Seoul earlier this year when protesters staged nightly candlelight vigils and repeatedly clashed with riot police over imports of American beef, saying Lee ignored public health concerns over the possibility of mad cow disease and failed to consult with citizens. Lee has promised to patch up relations with Washington that became strained under Seoul's previous decade of liberal governments.
Bush calls Lee a friend, which is good considering the raft of sensitive topics they will tackle before the American president heads to Thailand, then to the Beijing Olympics.
At the top of the list is getting North Korea to live up to its commitment to dismantle its nuclear weapons program.
Sunday is the earliest that Washington could move to strike North Korea from a list of state–sponsors of terrorism, a long–held demand from Pyongyang. But first, Washington wants the North to agree to procedures for verifying a declaration of its nuclear programs that Pyongyang submitted to the international arms talks — six months late and with fewer details than the U.S. originally demanded.
Washington has called for North Korea to allow thorough inspections and interviews with nuclear scientists, but Pyongyang has so far not accepted the proposal.
"We're at a very critical moment now for the North Korean government to make a decision as to whether or not they're going to verify what they said they would do," Bush said in an interview with China's state–run CCTV last week. "It's one thing to say it, but I think it's going to be very important for them to understand that we expect them to show us."
Grateful for South Korea's troop contribution in Iraq, Bush also will try to persuade Lee to make a bigger contribution in Afghanistan to help deal with the Taliban's resurgence.
"Obviously we'd like to see a greater role for South Koreans in Afghanistan, if the South Korean people are willing to move in that direction," Dennis Wilder, the National Security Council's senior director for Asian affairs, told reporters on Air Force One.
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Thousands Greet Bush in S. Korea with Prayer Gathering
Friday, 8 August 2008, 0:20 (IST)
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