YONHAP NEWS

(LEAD) Court to decide whether to arrest Chinese student over Olympic torch violence

   SEOUL, May 2 (Yonhap) -- A Seoul court will decide later Friday whether to issue an arrest warrant for a Chinese student accused of involvement in violence that rocked a recent Olympic torch relay in Seoul, as calls for an official apology from China mounted.

   China has expressed "regret" over violent demonstrations by thousands of young Chinese residents that injured several local protesters and police officers on Sunday.

   Facing public outrage, the Korean government started tracking down the violent demonstrators and said the masterminds could face deportation.

   Police have identified one Chinese student so far, about whom the Seoul Eastern District Court will decide whether to issue an arrest warrant by 4 p.m. The 21-year-old, whose name was still withheld and who studies the Korean language in Silla University in Busan, Korea's second largest city on the southeast coast, was accused of kicking and beating a 49-year-old Korean protester with a Chinese national flag and hurling concrete blocks at locals.

   "He admitted to all the charges," Im Tong-il, a lawyer for the Chinese student, said. "He said it was wrong to violate the Korean law and said he was sorry for causing the trouble."
"Very, very sorry," the Chinese student said in faltering Korean, as he left the court with his lawyer after questioning.

   The court judge in charge of issuing warrants, Choi Bong-hee, was not available for comment.

   Suspicions arose as to how 6,500 Chinese students showed up to surround the torch's relay with a sea of red Chinese national flags, some alleging involvement by Chinese missions in Korea. According to Silla University, Chinese students asked the school to provide buses for their trip to Seoul and the Chinese consulate in Busan requested its cooperation. Some 1,400 Chinese students in Busan travelled to Seoul, police in Busan said.

   "The Chinese students requested that the school offer transportation, and a Chinese consulate official later called us up to ask for our cooperation to ensure their safety because they (the students) are not familiar with traveling in Korea," Kang Chang-woo, an international relations official at Silla, said over the telephone.

   Chinese Assistant Foreign Minister He Yafei expressed regret and condolences for the injured in his meeting in Beijing with South Korean Deputy Foreign Minister Lee Yong-joon on Wednesday, according to the ministry. The Foreign Ministry also plans to toughen entry visa rules for Chinese students hoping to study here. Police said around 6,500 Chinese people, mostly students, took to the streets during the torch's 24-km journy in Seoul.

   Calls for clear action to be taken by China mounted, with Korea University's student union sending a letter to the Chinese embassy in Seoul urging an official apology from Beijing.

   "We are here to demand that the embassy take appropriate actions to hold accountable those who masterminded the violent demonstrations and to prevent this kind of accident from occurring again," the student union said in a statement.

   hkim@yna.co.kr
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