S Korea to send up to 700 troops to Iraq

Yahoo News ^ | 3/21/03

[areafiftyone]

South Korea on Friday decided to send up to 700 non-combatant troops to Iraq to support the US-led war, the presidential Blue House said.

A meeting of cabinet ministers, presided over by President Roh Moo-Hyun, agreed to the dispatch of up to 600 construction engineers and up to 100 medical personnel to Iraq.

There is a possibility that the war might be over earlier than expected. Therefore, we are considering sending some 40 members of the medical unit operating in Afghanistan at an early date," Roh's spokeswoman Song Kyung-Hee said.

She said Roh would ask for an extraordinary session of the National Assembly to sit from Monday through Wednesday to pass a motion authorising the troop dispatch.

He will also meet ruling and opposition party leaders soon to brief them on the decision and what the government is doing to minimise the negative impact of the war on the nation's security and economy, the Blue House said.

[Anamensis]

Hey, excellent! Good for them!

[steveegg]

Outstanding. I hope North Korea doesn't decide to try to take advantage.

[Indy Pendance]

Hurray for the unilateral unsanctioned war for oil lead by the imerialist regime of the United States!

[areafiftyone]

To be honest considering the position they are in right now with North Korea I didn't expect them to send any. We are thankful for South Korea!

[OldFriend]

Cynical me suspects the South Koreans will feel safer with the Americans in Iraq then they do at home with their mentally ill neighbor threatening to blow up the world.

[LizardQueen]

Good for them, but they better hurry up....

LQ

[The_Reader_David]

Be fair: the Germans have a chemical defense unit in Kuwait to help, despite their diplomatic position.