Anti-U.S. beef protest draws 100,000 S.Koreans

SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korean students, parents withtoddlers in tow, and union members took to the streets onSaturday in a massive protest against a government decision toresume imports of U.S. beef that they see as dangerous.

The organizers of the candle-lit vigil said 100,000 peoplewere at the rally that stopped traffic on the 16-lane centralSeoul main thoroughfare, after more than a week of dailyprotests against President Lee Myung-bak.

South Korea, once the third-largest importer of U.S. beefuntil a 2003 outbreak of mad cow disease in the United States,said it would start quarantine inspections of U.S. beef, a movethat opens its market fully for the first time in four years.