SEOUL, Aug 16: Security was tight on Saturday around the headquarters of the US forces in South Korea as rival rallies by pro-unification activists and right-wing groups crowded the sprawling military base in Seoul.

Police barricaded the entrances to the Eighth Army base, home to the central command of the 37,000 US troops stationed in South Korea, with rows of police buses supplemented by a human wall of hundreds of police clad in riot gear.

Some 5,000 people, including pro-unification activists and student radicals, rallied outside a gate of the Yongsan base, in central Seoul, urging the United States to stop its hostile policy toward North Korea.

The protesters waved banners accusing the United States of raising tension on the Korean peninsula and shouted slogans denouncing US-South Korean joint military exercises scheduled to start on Monday.

Some 300 metres away, a crowd of about 1,000, led by military veterans, held a separate rally to denounce the “pro-North Korea” activists. They were thwarted by police in their efforts to confront the larger crowd.

Saturday’s conflicting protests highlight a widening rift between pro-unification activists and right-wing groups over the future of US troops stationed in South Korea and US policy on the Korean peninsula.

Pro-unification activists have demanded that US troops, in place since the end of the 1950-53 Korean war, evacuate the peninsula.

“US, stop seeking a war in Korea,” they chanted after occupying a six-lane street outside the US base.

“The United States, which had no qualms about distorting information to justify its attacks on Iraq, is now turning on North Korea,” they said in a statement.

The demonstrators also sought the immediate release of 12 students detained last week for trespassing on a US training ground.

The 12 were among dozens of protesters who broke into a US live-fire training ground last week, burning US flags and climbing on top of an armoured vehicle during the incident.

The intrusion in Pocheon, some 50kms northeast of Seoul, provoked strong protest from US officials.

Saturday’s protests came at a sensitive time as Seoul tries to address mounting unease over an agreement reached last month on the handover of military responsibilities from US to South Korean troops to defend the country against possible attack.

Under the deal, the United States is to hand over 90 per cent of its military missions, some backed by high-tech and expensive weaponry, to South Korea over the next three years.

Seoul is also trying to boost cooperation with Washington ahead of six-party talks on resolving the 10-month-old crisis over North Korea’s nuclear weapons programme.

South Korean President Roh Moo-Hyun has expressed optimism the Aug 27-29 talks in Beijing could lead to a breakthrough in the standoff.

Chinese delegation: A high-level military delegation from China will visit North Korea soon, Pyongyang’s official news agency said on Saturday.

News of the visit comes before crucial six-way talks set to take place in China to resolve the 10-month crisis over North Korea’s nuclear weapons ambitions.

The Chinese delegation will be headed by Colonel General Xu Caihou, the director of the Chinese army’s general political department.

The six-way talks are due to take place in Beijing from Aug 27-29. —AFP