S. Korea: Police on high alert nationwide ahead of Trump’s visit
Police have been put on high alert nationwide one day ahead of U.S. President Donald Trump’s two-day visit as a number of rallies for and against the visit are scheduled, the National Police Agency said Friday. “We put police in Seoul at the highest level of alert at 9:00 a.m. Friday,” the agency said. The level of alert is issued during foreign leaders’ state visits and major national events.
The second-highest alert was issued to police forces in Incheon, west of Seoul, and southern and northern Gyeonggi Province, which are adjacent to the country’s capital, and the third-highest alert was issued in Daejeon, 164 km south of Seoul, and the Chungcheong and Gangwon provinces. “The alerts will be maintained until President Trump leaves the country on Sunday. … The alert levels this time have been heightened in general when compared with those issued during his two-day visit in November 2017,” the agency said. Traffic will be partially restricted on Trump’s movement routes and near his hotel and places he’s scheduled to visit. “Police will guarantee ralliers’ legal freedom of expression but will sternly deal with any action that may threaten security,” the agency said.
Progressive civic groups are planning demonstrations against Trump’s visit on Saturday afternoon at Gwanghwamun and Seoul squares in central Seoul. Conservative organizations also plan to hold rallies to welcome the U.S. president’s visit at Seoul Station and Daehan Gate. Such rallies are scheduled to take place Sunday as well. “We’ll mobilize all police forces nationwide for watertight security,” the agency said.
During Trump’s 2017 visit, a vehicle carrying him had to go the wrong way on a street in front of the U.S. Embassy in downtown Seoul to avoid protesters, some of whom threw water bottles and leaflets at the car, and fences were set up around the National Assembly in western Seoul, where Trump delivered a speech. Meanwhile, a far-right opposition party said it will temporarily move its protest tents set up at Gwanghwamun Plaza to a spot in front of a nearby office building in a bid to cooperate with the government’s preparations for Trump’s visit. The Our Republican Party has illegally pitched the tents at the plaza to call for the release of the jailed former President Park Geun-hye, pitting itself against the city government, which has ordered the removal. “We will remove all of the tents erected at the plaza and temporarily move them to a place in front of the Seoul Finance Center where a celebration event to mark Trump’s trip will be held,” Rep. Cho Won-jin, co-head of the party, told a press briefing. The party, previously the Korean Patriots Party, was established in July 2017 by supporters of ex-President Park, who was ousted from office in March of that year over a corruption scandal. The party is staging tent protests to call for Park’s release and a thorough probe into the deaths of five protesters during outdoor rallies in 2017 against the impeachment of the former president. “We promise to our supporters that we will protest more vehemently,” Cho added. “We can always come back to the square at any time.”
(Yonhap)
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