Another protest, another boycott threat by North

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Another protest, another boycott threat by North

DAEGU ― North Korean athletes threatened again to boycott the world university sports meet here yesterday if they did not receive an immediate government apology for a series of anti-North protests over the past three days.
At a press conference, Jon Kuk-man, head of the North Korean team, denounced a drive-by protest in which three South Koreans used a truck to broadcast anti-North messages outside the Daegu World Cup Stadium, the venue of the 2003 Summer Universiade. Local officials said the protesters also distributed leaflets and displayed placards criticizing the North.
“Some even broke into the place where our female supporters were staying and left insulting messages there,” Mr. Jon claimed, although South Korean officials denied any trespass.
The North Korean team leader said if Seoul did not officially apologize and punish those responsible for the alleged incidents, his team would boycott the games.
It was the North’s second demand for an apology in less than a week. On Sunday, a number of North Korean sports reporters covering the event attacked South Korean and international human rights protesters who were denouncing the North’s leader, Kim Jong-il.
No one was seriously hurt and no charges were made, but Pyeongyang demanded an official apology.
Members of 30 South Korean conservative groups, meanwhile, said they would stage an anti-North rally Friday in downtown Seoul.
According to a rally organizer, families of five South Korean sailors killed during an inter-Korean naval skirmish in the Yellow Sea last year will burn North Korean flags at the rally.
The planned demonstration was likely to irritate Pyeongyang even more, observers said, after a group of South Korean protesters burned North Korean flags before the opening of the Universiade last week. President Roh Moo-hyun offered an apology to Pyeongyang over the incident, after the North briefly delayed its athletes’ arrival.


by Kim Jung-ha
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