SOUTH KOREA:THE OLYMPIC torch relay continues to provoke controversy on its journey around the world.
South Korea is the latest nation to express concern after a group of Chinese students attacked anti-Chinese demonstrators at the torch relay in Seoul.
Meanwhile, Beijing has turned its fire on the Dalai Lama again, accusing him of manipulating opinion and governments in the West, just days after offering talks with his aides.
South Korea's foreign ministry has informed the Chinese ambassador in Seoul of its displeasure after students hurled rocks at groups critical of Beijing, ran at police cordons and attacked pro-Tibet protesters.
A police investigation is under way, and South Korean papers have run angry editorials denouncing the students.
"What right do these people have to travel in hordes in a foreign capital, hurling punches and launching kicks at others," the Chosun Ilbo, South Korea's biggest daily, noted in an editorial.
The South Korean justice minister told a cabinet meeting that the violence was "seriously regrettable".
This has been the most controversial torch relay in Olympic history. Pro-Tibetan demonstrators and other human rights activists have attacked the relay in London, Paris, San Francisco and elsewhere along the route, using the passage of the Olympic flame to highlight Beijing's deficit on human rights.
The protests have turned into a major loss of face for China, particularly when allied to calls by some western leaders, such as France's Nicolas Sarkozy, to boycott the opening ceremonies of the games, which start on August 8th.
The Chinese have responded by protesting outside foreign businesses such as French-owned Carrefour supermarkets, and nationalistic Chinese have protested in support of the Olympics and China at various points along the route.
Thousands of Chinese students bearing red flags were brought in by bus from all over Korea to rally around the torch.
Beijing renewed its attacks on the Dalai Lama, just days after saying it would meet his envoys for talks. China has blamed the exiled Buddhist leader's "clique" for unrest across Lhasa and other Tibetan areas, which it says was aimed at upstaging the Beijing Olympic Games. The Xinhua news agency underlined the fact that the Dalai Lama wanted a theocracy for Tibet, and was not interested in elections.
"After five decades of life in exile, the Dalai clique has learned how to cater to the West by flaunting human rights, peace, environment protection and culture, among others," Xinhua said in a commentary.
"But they never say a single word about the inhuman serfdom in Tibet under their rule," it added.