SOUTH KOREA

Farmers Protest U.S. Rice Imports: Farmers across South Korea stopped work Friday and some burned sacks of U.S. rice to drive home demands for a continuing ban on rice imports despite pressure from Washington for Seoul to open its market. Witnesses in Naju, 170 miles south of Seoul, said farmers burned rice during a rally that drew about 2,000 demonstrators chanting: “We don’t want American rice.” Farmers were also demanding a higher price for their rice. The National Assembly last week unanimously passed a resolution opposing rice imports. Deputy Prime Minister Choi Kak Kyu has said South Korea had no plans to open its rice market.