S. Korea to Send New Iraq Troops
South Korea will send nearly 3,600 troops to the Kurdish region of northern Iraq, the military said today, two weeks after Seoul rattled allies by scrubbing plans for a mission to the northern town of Kirkuk.
When South Korea canceled the Kirkuk deployment, it cited concerns that the mission, and potentially offensive operations in the area, would conflict with the troops’ parliamentary mandate for peacekeeping and reconstruction.
For a new site for South Korean troop deployment, the U.S. and South Korean militaries have agreed to choose between Sulaymaniya and Irbil in the Kurdish region, a Defense Ministry statement said. Twin suicide bombings killed 109 people in Irbil in February.
The statement did not make clear when South Korea would dispatch its troops.
About 460 South Korean medics and military engineers have been in the southern Iraqi town of Nasiriya for almost a year. They will go home after the new deployment.
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