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WASHINGTON: US President George W. Bush will attend the August 8 opening ceremonies of the Beijing Olympic Games despite appeals from human rights activists that he boycott the gala, the White House said on Thursday.Bush, who had always said he would go to the Olympics to encourage US athletes and did not want to use the competition to make a political statement, will first travel to South Korea and Thailand, said spokeswoman Dana Perino."The president and Mrs Bush will travel to the Republic of Korea, Kingdom of Thailand, and People's Republic of China in August," she said in a statement that did not say when he would depart Washington or return.The White House had said earlier this week that Bush would be in South Korea on August 5 and 6, but Perino later retracted that announcement as "premature" but "not inaccurate," while offering a "little bit of an apology" to Seoul.In South Korea, Bush and South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak will discuss efforts to get their re...

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