(CNSNews.com) - After weeks of official protests by the Chinese government about demonstrators disrupting the route of the global Olympic torch relay, on Monday Beijing was on the receiving end of complaints -- this time for the conduct of pro-Chinese activists.

The South Korean government expressed "strong regret" to China's ambassador about violent behavior displayed by some of the thousands of Chinese who turned out to support the relay as the torch made its way through Seoul on Sunday.

The Olympic flame attracted small groups of anti-Chinese protestors and much larger numbers of red flag-waving Chinese nationals, many of them students. Some of the pro-China crowd threw rocks and other missiles at the smaller group, whose protests focused mainly on China's treatment of North Korean refugees.

(North Koreans fleeing into China are routinely arrested and sent home, where rights groups say they face severe punishment and even execution. Those protesting in Seoul included defectors from the North and members of Christian groups working to help refugees hiding out in China.)

A senior foreign ministry official told the Yonhap news agency that the Chinese envoy, Ning Fukui, had during a meeting with Deputy Foreign Minister Lee Yong-joon been shown police reports relating to "violence caused by some young Chinese people." Several people wee reported to have been hurt, including protestors, a photographer and a policeman.

Ning told reporters afterwards the two governments needed to work together to ensure public sentiment in both countries was not injured. He said he hoped those hurt on Sunday would have a speedy recovery.

The 130-day, 85,000-mile torch relay leading up to the summer games in Beijing is the biggest in Olympic history. Billed as a "journey of harmony," it has instead become a costly security headache for some 20 governments and an embarrassment for the International Olympic Committee.

Now approaching the end of its six week-long international leg, the relay has been a lightning rod for protestors trying to draw attention to China's human rights record, including repression in Tibet.

The protests -- particularly chaotic scenes in Paris and London -- have in turn ignited a massive display of Chinese nationalism, encouraged by official media, facilitated by diplomatic missions, and with ordinary citizens in China and abroad using the Internet to drum up support.

As the relay makes its way around the world, increasingly large numbers of expatriate Chinese have turned out to "protect" it, counter any protests and defend China's claim to Tibet. In Kuala Lumpur last week, hundreds of Chinese turned out, and members of a Japanese family were roughed up after they unfurled a Tibetan flag.

In Canberra three days later, protestors were dwarfed by an estimated 10,000 chanting Chinese, predominantly students studying in Australia, many of whose travel to the capital had reportedly been funded and organized by student organizations and the Chinese Embassy. Amid heavy security presence, a few scuffles broke out between the two sides.

Thousands of Chinese students also were present in Nagano, Japan, where more scuffles with anti-Beijing demonstrators occurred as the torch passed through that city on Saturday before heading for Seoul.

A South Korean newspaper reported Monday that 30,000 Chinese flags and the same number of T-shirts had been sent to Seoul from China ahead of Sunday's event.

On Monday, the torch was carried through Pyongyang, where thousands of people lined the streets waving small flags and paper flowers -- and no protests were reported.

A North Korean official said last week the Pyongyang leg of the relay would "astonish the world," and take in such highlights of the capital as the Tower of the Juche Idea, the Victorious Fatherland Liberation War Museum and the Kim Il-sung Stadium.

China is North Korea's closest ally, and the Stalinist government has been critical of worldwide demonstrations linked to the Olympics.

From North Korea the torch was scheduled to go to Vietnam, and then to Hong Kong and Macao before beginning a three-month tour through mainland China, culminating in Beijing at the games' opening ceremony on August 8.

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