SEOUL, May 11 (UPI) -- Anti-U.S. groups said Thursday they would stage large-scale protests this weekend against a U.S. plan to relocate its troops in South Korea.
Dismissing the government's warning of tough crackdowns and a police ban, a coalition of some 100 anti-U.S. civic groups said they would hold a massive rally near the U.S. Embassy in Seoul and U.S. military facilities to oppose the planned realignment of U.S. bases in the country.
"We will hold rallies as scheduled in a peaceful and popular manner with people from all walks of life participating," the groups said in a press conference.
More than 10,000 activists and students are expected to gather in central Seoul Saturday and move to a town south of Seoul Sunday, where new U.S. military facilities will be built, they said.
The expansion of Camp Humphreys in Pyeongtaek is the key part of the realignment of U.S. bases in South Korea.
Under a 2004 accord, the United States is to redeploy the frontline U.S. ground forces to south of Seoul, in one of the biggest realignments of American forces in the country since the 1950-53 Korean War.
The South Korean government has vowed tough measures against the "illegal" rallies; the U.S. military realignment is part of formal agreements between the two allies.
About 30,000 U.S. troops are stationed in South Korea, a legacy of the 1950-53 Korean War. The two Koreas are still technically in a state of war since the Korean War ended with an armistice, not a peace treaty.
