movie news : South Korean movie stars rally against screen cuts.

South Korean movie stars rallied Saturday night against a proposed free trade agreement between their country and the United States amid the start of reduced protections for the domestic film industry.

About a dozen actors including Choi Min-shik, who starred in the Cannes award-winning film "Oldboy," actress Jeon Do-yeon, movie industry workers, academics and some 3,000 supporters gathered in a park in central Seoul for a rally denouncing the U.S. and South Korean governments as well as the American movie industry.

"We refuse to surrender to the unjustifiable demands of the United States," Kim Min-woong, a professor of social science and theology at Sungkonghoe University, told the rally. "We will not kneel down before the Hollywood giant."

The focus of the protester's anger is a government measure announced in January - the so-called screen quota system - that cuts the required number of domestic films shown annually in the nation's cinemas.

As of Saturday, local theaters are now required to show South Korean movies for 73 days a year, down from the previous 146 days. The system was introduced in 1966 to protect the local film industry.

The United States had long pushed for the quota to be reduced and made it a prerequisite for free trade negotiations, which began in Washington last month. The second round of talks is set to start in Seoul on July 10.

Cinematographer Kim Byung-il said he fears the domestic movie industry will lose jobs becasue of the lower screen quota.

"The Korean film industry is small," said Kim, who filmed the acclaimed 2003 movie "Untold Scandal," a South Korean version of the novel "Les Liasons Dangereuses." It's a "huge industry in Hollywood."

The South Korean government has pledged to continue supporting the local film industry, and has promised a 400 billion won (US$422 million; euro330 million) fund to help cushion the blow.

by Associated Press