SEOUL, South Korea - The Olympic torch began its latest relay leg Sunday through the South Korean capital, where activists demanding that Beijing respect the rights of North Korean refugees in China vowed to disrupt the event.
One protester rushed at the torch shortly after the run began from Seoul's Olympic Park, built to commemorate the 1988 Summer Games here. He tried to unfurl a banner calling for better treatment of North Koreans in China, but before he got near the flame he was quickly whisked away by dozens of police surrounding the torch.
Some 8,000 officers were deployed across the city to guard the torch on its 24-kilometer (15-mile) run to City Hall.
The first runner _ Kim Kung-kil, head of the South's Korean Olympic Committee _ jogged out of the park surrounded by police on horseback, riding bicycles, in buses and jogging alongside him.
Hundreds of Chinese also paced the torch. They carried a large red national flag and some wore red clothes, and they chanted "Go China, go Olympics!"
Near the park as the relay began, minor scuffles broke out between a group of several hundred Chinese students and about 50 demonstrators criticizing Beijing's policies. The students threw stones and water bottles at the others as police tried to keep them apart.
No injuries or arrests were reported.
Demonstrations are common in South Korea. Police have gained experience in corralling large crowds in events from the 1980s pro-democracy movement to recent protests against a free-trade agreement with the United States.
Han Chang Kwon, head of a coalition of groups representing North Korean defectors in the South, decried Beijing's policy of deporting North Koreans caught fleeing their impoverished homeland and said activists would try to hinder the torch relay.
"While trying to improve its image with the Olympics, (China) keeps sending defectors to the North knowing they would be executed or sent to political prisons," Han said.
Two South Koreans who had been chosen to run in the torch relay said they would boycott the event to protest China's recent crackdown on violent protests against Chinese rule in Tibet.
The torch arrived in Seoul from Nagano, Japan, site of the 1998 Winter Games. Although there were some minor attempts to halt the run, anti-torch demonstrators were outnumbered by Chinese boosters.
After Seoul the torch was scheduled to be flown to North Korea for its first-ever run in the communist country Monday. The North is an authoritarian state that tolerates no dissent, and no disruptions were expected there.
