Iraq Dispatch to Include Large Combat Force

By Shim Jae-yun & Ryu Jin
Staff Reporters

South Korea is considering sending a contingent of up to 5,000 ``stabilization’’ troops to Iraq, with half of them likely to be combat soldiers.

``The ROK contingent to be dispatched to Iraq should be one that can carry out an independent operations in a certain area rather than one based on engineers and medics,’’ Lt. Gen. Cha Young-koo, deputy defense minister for policy, said in a news briefing on Tuesday.

Cha’s remarks are widely believed to signal Seoul’s willingness to increase its initial offer of a 3,000-strong dispatch of mainly noncombat troops. The offer was turned down by the United States, which wanted more than 5,000 troops from South Korea.

Cha’s hint that the government will accommodate the U.S. request for a larger dispatch with more combat soldiers followed a meeting of national security-related ministers presided over by President Roh Moo-hyun yesterday morning.

According to sources who attended the security meeting at Chong Wa Dae, several officials opposed a larger troop dispatch, citing that Turkey and Poland are moving to reduce their troop commitment due to the unstable situation in Iraq.

``It was generally agreed that Seoul needs to take the U.S. stance into account because of the traditional alliance with the nation and its role in resolving the North Korean nuclear crisis,’’ an official said on condition of anonymity.

The meeting dealt with the number and role of troops to be sent based on the latest report by a fact-finding mission to Iraq and recommendations from a delegation sent to Washington to negotiate with U.S. officials.

``We decided to rule out the Mosul area in northern Iraq as a location of the Korean troops as the U.S. has already announced it would send marine corps to the region,’’ the official said.

The participants will present a bill on the troop dispatch to the National Assembly dispatch after consulting with the interim ruling body in Iraq and the United Nations.

The Roh administration is set to consult with U.S. security officials including U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld during the Security Consultative Meeting in Seoul next Monday.

Attending the meeting were Prime Minister Goh Kun, Foreign Affairs-Trade Minister Yoon Young-kwan, Defense Minister Cho Young-kil, Chief Presidential Secretary Moon Hee-sang, National Security Advisor Ra Jong-yil, Presidential Advisor on Foreign Affairs Ban Ki-moon and others.

National Security Council senior official Kim Man-bok, who led the fact-finding mission in Iraq, briefed those in attendance on the outcome of its investigation.

jayshim@koreatimes.co.kr