Pro-Bush prayer gathering greets U.S. president on South Korea visit

Police said some 30,000 people convened on the grassy plaza in front of Seoul City Hall for a Christian service, while large South Korean and U.S. flags were held aloft by balloons overhead along with a banner reading, "Welcome President Bush."

"The United States made sacrifices for South Korea during the Korean War and helped us live well," said Kim Jung-kwang, a 67-year-old retired air force colonel who attended the rally wearing his military uniform. "The United States is not our enemy. Without the U.S., we will die."

Bush held off on visiting Seoul earlier this year while protesters were staging nightly candlelight vigils and clashing with riot police in anger over government plans to resume imports of American beef.

The protests have since faded and meat shipments have begun. But the coalition that organized the earlier protests claimed it would gather 10,000 people for a candlelight vigil in central Seoul demanding changes to the beef deal. However, as of Tuesday evening fewer than 100 people had gathered at the site of a planned anti-U.S. beef demonstration.

Some 18,300 police were on high alert with riot gear and bomb-sniffing dogs to maintain order during the American president's less-than-24-hour visit to the country, the National Police Agency said.

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