seruriermarshal
06-17-2004, 10:58 AM
S. Korea Ruling Party Backs Plan for Iraq
By SANG-HUN CHOE, Associated Press Writer
SEOUL, South Korea - South Korea (news - web sites)'s ruling party on Thursday backed government plans to send 3,600 soldiers to northern Iraq (news - web sites), overcoming resistance from some members who had demanded that the long-delayed dispatch be reconsidered.
The decision was made in a meeting of Uri party leaders after President Roh Moo-hyun appealed to them for cooperation. The National Security Council was expected to meet this week to decide details of the deployment, and South Korea reportedly plans to send the troops to Irbil in northern Iraq this summer.
The deployment — would make South Korea the largest coalition partner after the United States and Britain. It was approved when the National Assembly was controlled by the conservative Grand National Party, but the liberal Uri won a majority in parliament in April elections and the decision was delayed.
Rep. Ahn Young-keun, head of the Uri party's policy coordination committee, said the party would "respect" the plan.
Roh has held firm on the plan despite the uproar over the prisoner abuse scandal involving U.S. troops in Iraq, as well as the unstable security situation in many parts of the country. Irbil is in a relatively quiet area.
South Korea originally had planned to send troops to the northern Iraqi town of Kirkuk as early as April. The plan was canceled amid concerns it would involve combat operations, in violation of a parliamentary mandate for peacekeeping duties only.
"In the early days, when we decided to send troops, there was a burden that our troops had to assist security directly or indirectly and take defensive actions, though the troops were only for reconstruction," Roh told Uri party members on Wednesday.
"But the safety of the troops has increased as the destination changed to Irbil from Kirkuk," Roh said. He was quoted by South Korea's national news agency, Yonhap.
Seoul has portrayed the deployment as a way of strengthening South Korea's alliance with the United States and winning more support from Washington for a peaceful end to the North Korean nuclear crisis. Washington has a large troop presence in South Korea.
South Korea already has 600 military medics and engineers in the southern Iraqi city of Nasiriyah.
From (http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20040617/ap_on_re_mi_ea/skorea_iraq&cid=540&ncid=1473)
By SANG-HUN CHOE, Associated Press Writer
SEOUL, South Korea - South Korea (news - web sites)'s ruling party on Thursday backed government plans to send 3,600 soldiers to northern Iraq (news - web sites), overcoming resistance from some members who had demanded that the long-delayed dispatch be reconsidered.
The decision was made in a meeting of Uri party leaders after President Roh Moo-hyun appealed to them for cooperation. The National Security Council was expected to meet this week to decide details of the deployment, and South Korea reportedly plans to send the troops to Irbil in northern Iraq this summer.
The deployment — would make South Korea the largest coalition partner after the United States and Britain. It was approved when the National Assembly was controlled by the conservative Grand National Party, but the liberal Uri won a majority in parliament in April elections and the decision was delayed.
Rep. Ahn Young-keun, head of the Uri party's policy coordination committee, said the party would "respect" the plan.
Roh has held firm on the plan despite the uproar over the prisoner abuse scandal involving U.S. troops in Iraq, as well as the unstable security situation in many parts of the country. Irbil is in a relatively quiet area.
South Korea originally had planned to send troops to the northern Iraqi town of Kirkuk as early as April. The plan was canceled amid concerns it would involve combat operations, in violation of a parliamentary mandate for peacekeeping duties only.
"In the early days, when we decided to send troops, there was a burden that our troops had to assist security directly or indirectly and take defensive actions, though the troops were only for reconstruction," Roh told Uri party members on Wednesday.
"But the safety of the troops has increased as the destination changed to Irbil from Kirkuk," Roh said. He was quoted by South Korea's national news agency, Yonhap.
Seoul has portrayed the deployment as a way of strengthening South Korea's alliance with the United States and winning more support from Washington for a peaceful end to the North Korean nuclear crisis. Washington has a large troop presence in South Korea.
South Korea already has 600 military medics and engineers in the southern Iraqi city of Nasiriyah.
From (http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20040617/ap_on_re_mi_ea/skorea_iraq&cid=540&ncid=1473)