S.Korean additional troops to Iraq to change deployment place

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Friday, March 19, 2004

S.Korean additional troops to Iraq to change deployment place

The deployment location for South Korean additional troops in Iraq will be changed from northern city of Kirkuk to a more safer place, according to the South Korean Defense Ministry on Friday.

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The deployment location for South Korean additional troops in Iraq will be changed from northern city of Kirkuk to a more safer place, according to the South Korean Defense Ministry on Friday.

The ministry said in a statement that it was looking for a new location to send the 3,600 troops it has promised to dispatch to Iraq to help with the country's reconstruction.

"South Korea and the United States share the understanding thatit was inevitable to change the location of our troop dispatch because the security in Kirkuk, our original candidate area, has worsened," it said.

"The United States cited inevitability for offensive operations to keep security in order in the Kirkuk area, and proposed that a certain number of US troops would remain in Kirkuk to continue to conduct stabilization operations under the tactical control of South Korea," it said.

However, the statement noted that South Korea considered the US above stance falls short of Seoul's promise to South Korean people that South Korea is to keep its own independent operational command system and conduct peaceful reconstruction in Iraq.

In the statement carried on the ministry's web page, it said "All areas in Iraq will be studied and considered as a new site."

"The United States hopes South Korea to send additional troops to Iraq as early as possible. While South Korea will maintain close consultation with the United States to fix a more safer place for South Korean troops' deployment thus to effectively carry on peaceful reconstruction in Iraq at an early date," said the statement.

The ministry also said that after the place is chosen, it will decide the timing of the dispatch.

South Korea agreed to dispatch more troops to Iraq last October.And it finally made clear it will dispatch a total of some 3,600 troops to Kirkuk early this year, including the 466 engineers and medics who have been working in Iraq.

South Korea originally planned to send the main body of the large troops to the Middle East country at the end of April.

Local media has reported that the troop dispatch plan may be delayed because the United States wants to continue to keep its troops in selected areas in Kirkuk, such as Hawija where a growing number of Iraqi insurgents have been gathering.

South Korea worried it will be more dangerous if its troops deployed together with US troops, for South Korean soldiers might be identified with US soldiers by the insurgents there.

Previously, sources with the South Korean Defense Ministry said that a new strong candidate site is Najaf in southern Iraq, where the Spanish troops are currently stationed.

Spain's new prime minister, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, said he would pull 1,300 Spanish troops out of Iraq unless the United Nations takes control of peacekeeping operations there.

The troop dispatch plan is unpopular here. Recently, concern has been rising that South Korea will be another target of terror attack after the March 11 attack in Madrid.

Source: Xinhua

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