SOUTH KOREA: Falungong practitioners hold anti-China rally as Wen Jiabao arrives in the country

Record ID: 212630

  • Title: SOUTH KOREA: Falungong practitioners hold anti-China rally as Wen Jiabao arrives in the country
  • Date: 29th May 2010
  • Summary: SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA (MAY 28, 2010) (REUTERS) CHINESE FLAG AT EMBASSY AND PROTEST RALLY ACROSS STREET VARIOUS OF RALLY (SOUNDBITE) (Korean) PROTEST LEADER OH SE-YEOL "As Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao visits South Korea, South Korea's Falungong association demand that they stop the suppression of Falungong practitioners in China by a group led by Jiang Zemin for 11 years." MORE OF RALLY
  • Embargoed: 13th June 2010 13:00
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  • Reuters ID: LVAAQJFC72WRRITVFVRBEG0BU65L
  • Story Text: Falungong practitioners in South Korea staged an anti-China rally on Friday (May 28) as Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao arrived in the country.
    Wen arrived in South Korea on Friday for a two-day visit. Wen is in South Korea for talks with East Asian trading partners where the agenda for regional cooperation is expected to be overshadowed by how to reign in provocative North Korea.
    Dozens of protesters gathered near Seoul's Chinese Embassy and criticised the Chinese government who, they say, have suppressed Falungong practitioners for 11 years.
    Protesters urged the Chinese government to stop suppressing Falungong practitioners.
    "As Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao visits South Korea, South Korea's Falungong association demand that they stop the suppression of Falungong practitioners in China by a group led by Jiang Zemin for 11 years," said Oh Se-yeol.
    Wen is the first Chinese leader to meet with South Korea's president after Seoul accused Pyongyang of torpedoing one of its battleships in March.
    Wen will also meet with Japan's Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama for a regional summit to face neighbours' disquiet over China's reluctance to press Pyongyang.
    With Seoul and Tokyo convinced that North Korea torpedoed a South Korean warship, the Cheonan, China's attempts to balance those ties with its traditional support of Pyongyang will be at issue during a three-nation regional summit on the resort island of Jeju over the weekend.
    U.S. officials said this week that there were signs that China, the North's main benefactor and ally, is reviewing ties with the isolated state a week after an investigation headed by Seoul released evidence accusing the North for the sinking.
    But South Korean officials were more skeptical about whether Beijing will make the dramatic gesture of siding with the South and the United States, when Seoul raises the issue at the U.N. Security Council.
    A senior South Korean official said Seoul did not expect Beijing to come forward on the side of condemning Pyongyang or imposing fresh sanctions, but in the end, will not block the move to censure the North at the Security Council.
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