Riot police formed a human barricade as about 600 students from the outlawed leftist campus group, Hanchongryon, gathered for an anti-US rally near the main entrance to the commanding post of 37 000 US troops in South Korea.
The protestors carried a banner reading "We oppose the US, which is heightening tension on the Korean peninsula" and shouted slogans denouncing US-South Korean joint military exercises scheduled to start on August 18.
The rally coincided with a meeting between South Korean Prime Minister Koh Kun and US military commander General Leon LaPorte on the intrusion last week by dozens of protestors onto a US live-fire training ground.
The intrusion in Pocheon, some 50 km northeast of Seoul, provoked strong protests from US officials.
South Korean police have arrested 12 students who burned American flags and climbed on top of an armored vehicle during the incident.
The protest took place at a sensitive time when Seoul was 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.
President Roh Moo-hyun has expressed his regret, calling last week's incident a "shameful incident".
Hanchongryon (the Federation of Korean University Student Councils) claimed its protests were aimed at exposing US moves to escalate tension by conducting military drills.
Last week's protest targeted the Stryker Brigade, a US rapid mobile combat-ready unit which had left South Korea after training at the shooting range, it said.
The group is demanding Washington agree to North Korea's demand for a non-aggression pact to resolve the nuclear crisis.
Under a mutual defense pact dating back to the 1950-53 Korean War, the US still maintains troops close to the inter-Korean border to dissuade North Korea from launching a second invasion of South Korea. – Sapa-AFP.
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