ROK regrets over Iraq abuse, reaffirms troop dispatch

South Korea's foreign minister Wednesday voiced regrets over the abuse of Iraqi prisoners by US soldiers but reaffirmed Seoul's commitment to contribute 3,600 troops to the US-led efforts to rebuild the wart-torn Arab country.

Ban Ki-moon called the mistreatment of Iraqi prisoners by US troops "inhuman behaviors" and expressed hope that no such cases would recur.

"The troop dispatch is our promise to the international community as well as to the Iraqi people," Ban said at a weekly news briefing. "We will maintain our principle of sending troops to Iraq and embark on preparations according to procedures."

Public pressure is mounting for the South Korean government to scrap its plan to send troops to Iraq, following the disclosure ofgraphic scenes of abuses of Iraqi prisoners by American and British soldiers.

The South Korean troop dispatch plan is unpopular among its people but government officials believe that it would help strengthen South Korea-US alliance, thus helping resolve the tension over Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK)'s nuclear weapons program.

South Korea plans to send a military delegation to the northernIraqi town of Irbil this month to make its final arrangements for the deployment of its troops in the Kurdish-controlled region, according to the Defense Ministry.

The ministry said the actual troop deployment, originally expected before the end of June, would be delayed by one or two months.

The deployment will make South Korea the third largest militarypresence after the United States and Britain in Iraq.

Earlier this week, South Korea received a letter from Kurdish leaders in Irbil who welcome South Korea's troop deployment and want to hold talks to work out details, according to the ministry.

But in the wake of continuing instability in Iraq and the abuseof Iraqi prisoners by the US and British soldiers, more and more South Korean people oppose the plan. Local activists plan to hold an anti-war candle vigil in downtown Seoul Friday evening to urge the government to scrape its plan.

Source: Xinhua