Trump visits Seoul, where protesters worry

SEOUL – In a city where the threat of a nuclear attack has loomed large for years, Hong Soo Jin says she has special reason to be anxious these days.

“My two sons are serving in the army,” Hong, 50, said as hundreds of anti-war demonstrators marched along the South Korean capital city’s Gwanghwamun Square, right across a plaza from the U.S. embassy.

Hong and throngs of chanting, sign-waving protesters say there’s another thing fueling their worries about a nuclear-armed conflict with the rogue state across the border: Donald Trump.

As the U.S. president prepares to make his first visit to Seoul this week, some local residents are taking to the streets to argue that his past threats to meet North Korea’s Kim Jong Un with “fire and fury like the world has never seen“make war much more likely.

South Koreans have long worried about renewed military conflict with the North, he said, but now “they have a big fear about the war — a second Korean War.”

Yet not all the protesters were anti-Trump. In the run-up to the president’s visit, other South Koreans demonstrated in support of Trump’s efforts to confront Kim and his nuclear weapons program. One sign even even gave Trump some advice: “Kill Rocket Man Kim Jeong Eun & Bomb North Korea!”

Trump gets to make his own case during his two-day visit to Seoul that begins Tuesday, including meetings with South Korean President Moon Jae-in and a high-profile speech to the National Assembly.