Around 1,500 South Korean activists formed a human chain near the main US military base in Seoul yesterday demanding the United States stay out of inter-Korean matters, ahead of talks on North Korea's nuclear programme.
The rally was the latest in a series of demonstrations over the past year against the 37,000-strong US troop presence in the South, a legacy of the 1950-53 Korean War that ended in an armed truce that has left the two Koreas in a state of war.
"We oppose the United States' war manoeuvering on the Korean peninsula," chanted the demonstrators, sporting yellow peace ribbons on their wrists as they formed a human chain around the Yongsan military base in central Seoul.
Armed riot police ringed the protest, but no violence was reported.
A majority of South Koreans support the alliance with the United States. But the deaths of two schoolgirls, who were run over by a US military vehicle in June last year, set off a series of huge anti-American protests and demands for changes in laws governing their jurisprudence.
North Korea has repeatedly demanded Washington sign a non-aggression pact as a show of goodwill before it agrees to any dismantling of a nuclear programme that the United States suspects has already produced at least one or two atomic bombs.
Washington has said the US Congress would have a hard time passing such a pact and has floated the idea of regional security guarantees for the communist regime in Pyongyang.
The issue is expected to dominate six-way talks in Beijing on August 27-29, bringing together the two Koreas, the United States, Russia, China and Japan in an effort to persuade Pyongyang to abandon its nuclear ambitions.
South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun said on Friday Seoul would take the lead in helping develop North Korea's shattered economy - if Pyongyang ends its nuclear programme .
"North Korea should not miss this opportunity," Roh said in a speech marking the 58th anniversary of liberation from the Japanese colonial rule.
"When North Korea gives up its nuclear programme, the Republic is willing to take the lead in helping develop its economy. We'll collaborate with our neighbours in an endeavour to induce co-operation of international organisations as well as international capital for the North," Roh said.
Media reports said South Korea, Japan and the United States may help North Korea join the Asia Development Bank and the World Bank to get access to vitally needed aid if it agreed to a nuclear deal.