Thousands deploy ahead of Olympic torch relay in South Korea
Posted: 27 April 2008 1147 hrs

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SEOUL: Thousands of riot police deployed for the South Korean leg of the Olympic torch relay Sunday, as activists vowed to block the route to protest China's actions in Tibet and repatriation of North Korean refugees.

Police said they began posting some 8,300 officers along the 24-kilometre (15-mile) relay route from Olympic Park to City Hall in central Seoul. The relay is to start at 2:00 pm (0500 GMT) and end at 7:00 pm.

The tight security includes 20 police officers on bicycles and 120 police runners who will surround the Olympic flame, backed by officers on motorcycles, and in cars and helicopters.

A coalition of 63 rights, religious and conservative groups have said thousands are expected to take to the streets in protest.

"Police will maintain watertight security to make sure that everything goes smoothly," a senior official handling the security told AFP on Sunday.

"Police will immediately arrest anyone who tries to stop or disrupt the Olympic torch relay. We will deal sternly with such cases."

The flame arrived at Seoul's Incheon airport early Sunday, amid tight security. No disruption was reported with hundreds of police at the airport.

The torch landed from Japan where protesters hurled rubbish and flares during its run on Saturday and brawled with Chinese supporters. At least four people were injured in the scuffles in the mountain resort of Nagano.

Earlier legs in London and Paris were also hit by protests, angering China which had hoped the worldwide relay would be symbolic of its rising status and pride in hosting the August Games.

Activists protesting against China's crackdown in Tibet and its policy of repatriating North Korean refugees have promised similar scenes in South Korea.

North Korean defectors plan to block bridges over the broad Han River, which the runners are scheduled to use. "We're going to try to stop the relay at all costs," Han Chang-Kwon, who represents a defectors' group, said Friday.

"We have prepared several units of defectors who will desperately try to stop the progress of the relay when it crosses one of the main bridges."

Human Rights Watch, a US-based rights group, said Seoul should use the occasion to urge Beijing to change its policy of repatriating North Korean refugees, who can face harsh punishment or even death on their return.

Many of the thousands of Chinese studying or working in South Korea also plan to turn out but they will welcome the torch, said Liu Yen of the Chinese Resident's Association Seoul Korea.

"We'll hold welcoming placards high and wave our national flags," she told Yonhap news agency Friday.

Dozens of activists rallied Saturday near Olympic Park ahead of the relay.

"We're going to try to stop the relay," said refugee Choi Hye-Jeong, who tearfully added she was tortured by North Korean authorities when Chinese officials forced her to return to her country several years ago.

"I get enraged every time I think of what they did to me. I won't let this relay happen as planned," she told Yonhap.

Human rights lawyer Kim Sang-Chul said China has repatriated some 75,000 North Koreans over the last 15 years and vowed to stop the torch.

"China tries to promote itself as a civilised nation but what it's doing to the defectors is uncivilised," he said.

The torch heads late Sunday to North Korea, a close ally of China that has strongly criticised the overseas protests. - AFP/ac