Deploying a mixture of high-tech weaponry and high-kicking martial arts, an elite South Korean security force demonstrated Monday how it will protect dozens of world leaders at an upcoming Seoul summit. The Presidential Security Service, whose normal job is to guard Seoul’s leader, will also oversee the safety of about 40 heads of state or government during the March 26-27 Nuclear Security Summit. At the presidential residence known as the Blue House, some 70 officers staged a demonstration involving martial arts, sub-machineguns, ropes, vehicles and even a net. Blank shots were fired to block a mock suicide bomb attack, and armed officers rappelled from the top of a building to rehearse the rescue of a leader as senior police and army officers looked on. The summit will be the largest ever staged by the country in terms of the number of global leaders expected. Organisers say US President Barack Obama has confirmed his attendance but have not yet released names of other leaders. Some 40,000 officers will be deployed, with a security barricade encircling the venue, while some areas including hotels to be used by world leaders will be declared off-limits to protesters.
