Following U.N. Vote, S. Korea Offers Troops, Cash for Iraq

South Korea offered today to send troops to Iraq, becoming one of the first U.S. allies to do so following the passage of a U.N. Security Council resolution authorizing a multinational force.

Publicly, South Korean officials did not specify the number or type of troops they were offering, but sources here said between 3,000 and 7,000 combat soldiers could be dispatched. The government also pledged $200 million -- in addition to $60 million already sent -- for the rebuilding of Iraq.

“The Korea-U.S. relationship, the national interest and the recent passage of U.N. resolutions were all considered in making the decision,” a spokesman for South Korean President Roh Moo Hyun said this morning.

Although it was not made explicit, South Korea’s offer seems to have been made with the expectation that the United States will relax its uncompromising stance toward North Korea. Roh, fearful that uncertainty over North Korea is dragging down his country’s economy, has been lobbying for the Bush administration to strike a deal under which North Korea would give up its pursuit of nuclear weapons in exchange for international assistance.

South Korean Foreign Minister Yoon Young Kwan reportedly angered Secretary of State Colin L. Powell last month by telling him that South Korea would not help on Iraq without progress on North Korea.

Moon Chung In, a South Korean academic and foreign policy advisor to his government, denied that there was any quid pro quo in South Korea’s gesture.

“This is a clean-cut offer. It is not explicitly linked,” Moon said. But he noted that the South Korean government had “made it very clear that they want to see an improvement in the U.S. attitude” on North Korea.

Moon said the troop deployment is a politically risky move for the beleaguered South Korean president, who has called for a public referendum on his presidency.

“In effect, Roh Moo Hyun is risking his own political life for that of George W. Bush,” Moon said.

Bush is expected to meet with Roh next week at an Asian economic conference.

A poll published in Friday’s Dong-A Ilbo newspaper showed that with Thursday’s passage of the U.N. resolution authorizing a multinational force, 73.9% of South Koreans favored dispatching troops to Iraq. The dilemma for Roh is that much of his core support comes from left-of-center voters in their 20s, who have been opposed to the U.S.-led war from the outset.

South Korea’s decision this year to send 675 noncombat troops to Iraq elicited noisy street protests.

Despite opposition here to the war in Iraq, there is still gratitude among South Koreans -- particularly the older generations -- for the U.S. intervention on their behalf during the 1950-53 war against communist North Korea. The United States maintains about 37,000 troops in South Korea.