Bush to face protesters over beef imports during South Korea visit

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
US President George W. Bush held off on visiting Seoul earlier this year when protesters staged nightly candlelight vigils and clashed with riot police in anger over government plans to resume imports of American beef. The protests faded, and meat shipments began. But Bush's arrival Tuesday is shaping up to be a new flash point as anti-government demonstrators say they will raise their cries again, facing off against pro-US groups planning a show of support for the country's longtime ally. South Koreans remain generally positive in public opinion surveys about the United States, which helped repel North Korea in the 1950-53 Korean war and still deploys some 28,500 troops on the Korean peninsula to deter an attack. Voters elected a conservative, pro-American president, Lee Myung-bak, who took office in February with promises to patch up relations with Washington that became strained under Seoul's previous decade of liberal governments.