Sunday, April 27, 2008

Disruption at Seoul torch relay



After completing its relay in Seoul, South Korea, the Olympic torch has made its way to Pyongyang. The South Korean relay completed successfully in 5 hours according to CCTV-9. However the Chinese International state broadcaster failed to mention the disruption encountered on its journey through the city and the website was still not updated several hours later and continued to report the start of the relay. One man attempted to set himself alight after dousing himself with petrol and scuffles broke out several times along the route. But demonstrators were largely outnumbered by Olympic supporters and Chinese flag waving crowds. Despite the violence there has still been relatively little coverage on the BBC, Sky News and CNN.
There are unlikely to be any protests when the torch is carried around the North Korean city of Pyongyang however. Nor is the television coverage likely to be extensive. Live TV coverage from both Japan and South Korea was virtually non-existent in the West and is likely to dwindle further as the torch makes its way around China. Of course as the flame arrives in Tibet the Western media will once again return to report on this epic journey which has brought more disharmony than the Harmony it was supposed to bring with it.

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