S. Korea to Send Troops to Northern Iraq

Washington Times ^ | April 1, 2004 | Sang-Hun Choe

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -- South Korea will send nearly 3,600 troops to the Kurdish region of northern Iraq, the military said Friday, two weeks after Seoul rattled allies by scrubbing plans for a mission to the northern town of Kirkuk.

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

South Korea will send nearly 3,600 troops to the Kurdish region of northern Iraq, the military said Friday, two weeks after Seoul rattled allies by scrubbing plans for a mission to the northern town of Kirkuk.

The 3,600-troop mission will make South Korea the biggest coalition partner in Iraq after the United States and Britain.

About 460 South Korean medics and military engineers have been in the southern Iraqi town of Nasiriyah for almost a year, and will come home following the new deployment

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S. Korean allied, ping!

Related from the DoD:

8 North Korea Threatens Northeast Asian, World Security ~ DoD-AFPS | 4/01/04 | Gerry J. Gilmore
8 U.S. Plan to Shift Korea Forces Still a 'Go' ~ DoD-AFPS | 4/01/04 | Gerry J. Gilmore

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[Mamzelle]

April Fools?

[Gefreiter]

Boy they'll sure have egg on their face when they find out that the US acts unilaterally.

[Alamo-Girl]

Bump!

[blackie]

Korean Allies ~ Bump!

We are winning ~ the bad guys are losing ~ trolls, terrorists, democrats and the mainstream media are sad ~ very sad!

~~ Bush/Cheney 2004 ~~

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

Boy they'll sure have egg on their face when they find out that the US acts unilaterally.

    (^:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Korea to Deploy 3,000 More Soldiers to Northern Iraq

By Jim Garamone
American Forces Press Service

Washington, April 2, 2004 – More than 3,700 Korean soldiers will deploy to either Irbil or As Sulimaniyah provinces this summer, Korean officials announced April 1.

The commitment will make the South Korean contingent the third largest foreign contribution in Iraq after the United States and the United Kingdom.

Army Lt. Col. Michael Finnegan said the Korean contingent is expected to deploy in mid-June. The Korean Joint Staff worked closely with U.S. Central Command to see where the Korean contribution could be best used, said Finnegan, the Korea country director in the Pentagon's policy office.

"We welcome their announcement and we look forward to working with them," Finnegan said. Korea has been a "steadfast partner" in the war against terror, the colonel said. "They have sailed and flown in support of the global war on terror, and they have had troops serving in an exemplary manner in both Afghanistan and Iraq."

Finnegan said the unit to arrive is a "hybrid" specializing in reconstruction. "It is a mixture of logistics types," he said. The unit will contain engineers, medics, truck drivers and other reconstruction skills. But the unit will also contain security and civil affairs personnel.

The Koreans have named the hybrid the Zaiyatun Unit – which means "olive" in Arabic.

There are currently 500 South Korean soldiers based in Nasiriyah, mostly engineers and medical personnel. They will deploy with the rest of the arriving troops.

Finnegan said the unit will report directly to Combined Joint Task Force 7, and a major general will command it.

Finnegan said there were 50,000 South Korean volunteers for the 3,000 spaces in the Zaiyatun Unit. He said the U.S. military is looking forward to working with the South Korean military personnel.

South Korea has had a wealth of peacekeeping experience. It has participated in operations in Cambodia, the Western Sahara, Afghanistan and East Timor.

Related Sites:
U.S. Central Command
Combined Joint Task Force 7
State Department Background Notes on South Korea

[blackie]

South Korean Allies ~ Bump!

We are winning ~ the bad guys are losing ~ trolls, terrorists, democrats and the mainstream media are sad ~ very sad!

~~ Bush/Cheney 2004 ~~

[Alamo-Girl]

Bump!