A South Korean anti-war group organized a protest rally at the gate of South Korean Consulate General in New York Wednesday, demanding withdrawal of South Korean troops from Iraq.

Scores of demonstrators, with posters in hand that read: "Bring the troops home now," "Stop US occupation of Iraq," chanted "US forces out of Iraq," "No more Korean troops to Iraq," while listening to speeches by anti-war activists in the English and Korean languages.

In a distributed written statement, the group, New York Alliance of the Oppressed to War and Deployment, said it called upon the South Korean government of President Roh Moo-hyun to "categorically reject any pressure from the White House to participate in this bloody occupation of Iraq for oil and profits."

It also called upon the government to rescind its support of the US-led occupation of Iraq, including its decision to send 3,000 combat troops to the country this month.

The statement said US invasion and occupation of Iraq has not made that country or the world any safer or more democratic. Instead, the illegal war has led to the death of 11,000 Iraqi civilians and over 900 US troops.

One Korean civilian, Kim Sun Il, has already paid for this war with his life, said the statement in reference to the beheading ofKim, an employee of a South Korean firm supplying US military in Iraq. It urged the South Korean government to follow the suit of Philippine President Gloria Arroyo and withdraw the troops from Iraq.

"What honorable reason does South Korea have to become the third largest occupation force in Iraq? In poll after poll, the Korean people have voiced their opposition to their government's decision to participate in the unjust occupation of Iraq, the statement said.

According to one of the organizers, Korean-American groups willhold rallies in South Korean embassies and consulates across the United States to protest the government's decision to sacrifice lives of innocent South Koreans in support of an unjust war of occupation.

South Korea, which has already 600 military medics and engineers in southern Iraq, plans to send 900 troops to Kurdish-controlled Irbilin in early August, followed by about 1,100 troopsbetween late August and early September and an additional 1,000 soldiers to Iraq later.

Source: Xinhua