South Korea has readied more than 20,000 police and troops for a visit by US President George W Bush.
President Lee-Myung Bak ordered a security clampdown for the trip starting this evening, telling his cabinet the close US relationship is the backbone of South Korean diplomacy.
Police said about 7,000 officers would guard the US President Bush 17,000 more were being deployed in downtown Seoul to control expected demonstrations. Thousands of troops will also be mobilised, the defence ministry said.
Proposals for a visit by Mr Bush in July were shelved amid near-daily mass protests against the resumption of the beef imports from the US.
These largely subsided after Seoul secured extra safeguards against the supposed risks of mad cow disease.
But organisers said they expect about 10,000 at a candlelit protest rally today.
The majority of such rallies have not been overtly anti-US.
About 30,000 military veterans, rightwing activists and conservative Christians gathered outside City Hall to pray for a strong alliance, police estimated.
After a decade of sometimes strained relations under liberal presidents, the conservative President Lee made the strengthening of US ties his top foreign priority.
But his first summit with George Bush at Camp David in April heralded a summer of discontent.
His government's decision on the eve of the summit to resume US beef imports, in a bid to pave the way for a broader free trade agreement led to months of occasionally violent street rallies.
Analysts say their summit on Wednesday is likely to be long on symbolism and short on substance given that the US leader is near the end of his term.
