6,000 South Korean Protestors Rally Against Troop Dispatch To Iraq

SEOUL, Aug 15 (AFP) - About 6,000 anti-war activists rallied near the US embassy here Sunday to protest the dispatch of South Korean troops to Iraq.
The demonstrators urged President Roh Moo-Hyun to cancel the deployment of more than 3,000 South Korean troops in Iraq on a relief and rehabilitation mission.
They carried placards reading "Scrap South Korea-US alliance". They also shouted slogans calling for closer inter-Korean relations
Riot police using dozens of buses formed a tight blockade around the embassy.
South Korean troops are to be deployed in Arbil, a Kurdish-controlled town in northern Iraq, for several weeks beginning this month.
South Korea has imposed a tight media blackout concerning the politically sensitive dispatch of troops, the third largest foreign force in Iraq.
The beheading of Kim Sun-Il, a 33-year-old South Korean citizen, by Islamic militants in June fueled anti-war protests here but the government vowed to push on with the troop dispatch.