Thousands of South Korean activists stage anti-US protests

Thousands of students and anti-war activists held anti-US protests Sunday and demanded South Korea scrap its decision to send troops to Iraq.
About 3,000 leftist students marched in central Seoul shouting "No troops to Iraq" as a South Korean military mission left for northern Iraq to finalise plans for the deployment of 3,600 troops there.
South Korea plans to deploy the troops to Arbil, in the Kurdish autonomous region of northern Iraq, for relief and rehabilitation work.
South Korea pledged to dispatch the troops in support of the US-led occupation of Iraq in February but the deployment was put off as a result of deepening unrest in the war-torn country.
In Pyeongtaek, 70 kilometres (42 miles) south of Seoul, 700 activists held a similar rally near a US military base, Yonhap news agency said.
They also opposed US plans to expand the Pyeongtaek base as part of efforts to reorganise 37,000 American troops in South Korea, it said.
Activists want the closure of all US bases in South Korea, although the US troop relocation sparked concern here that it was the signal for deeper cuts.