YONHAP NEWS

(2nd LD) S. Korea to send troops to Afghanistan to protect aid workers

By Lee Chi-dong
SEOUL, Oct. 30 (Yonhap) -- South Korea announced a plan Friday to dispatch hundreds of troops and police to Afghanistan with the mission of protecting its civilian aid workers there.

The decision came as Seoul plans to increase the number of its reconstruction workers in the war-torn and terrorism-prone country to at least 130 and operate an independent Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) as part of efforts to play a bigger role in the international community.

Currently, two dozen South Korean medical staff and vocational training experts work to support the U.S. PRT inside the U.S. Air Force Base in Bagram, north of Kabul, following the pullout of its 200 medical and engineering troops from Afghanistan in 2007.

   South Korea has been under growing pressure to provide more contributions, commensurate with its national power and enhanced global status, to the troubled U.S.-led campaign in Afghanistan.

   "The Afghan government has so far asked our government through various channels to expand support for the stabilization and reconstruction of Afghanistan. In an effort to more actively participate in the efforts, the (South Korean) government has decided to expand the PRT," foreign ministry spokesman Moon Tae-young said in a statement read in front of television cameras.

   He pointed out that South Korea was able to overcome its national crisis during the 1950-53 Korean War with the help of the international community and eventually emerged as a key player in the world.

   An "appropriate number" of police and troops will be dispatched as well, but only to safeguard PRT workers from terror threats, he added. Moon stressed that the security forces will not take part in any kind of combat except for when it is needed to protect PRT members.

   The spokesman did not give specifics, including the number of the troops to be dispatched.

   Another senior ministry official said later that where and how many troops will be deployed will be determined through consultations with the Afghan government and NATO. South Korea also plans to send an inter-agency fact-finding team to Afghanistan next month to gather related data.

   "Hundreds of soldiers will be dispatched, but the exact number has not been decided yet," the official told reporters on the customary condition of anonymity.

   Ministry sources said the government plans to send more than 200 troops and scores of police.

   Candidate areas for the location of South Korea's PRT include Kapisa, a province near Kabul, the central region of Daykundi, and Nimroz, a western province bordering Iran, where no PRT is in operation. Seoul may take over PRT works from a foreign country in another province.

   Civilians and military personnel cooperate in the PRT work that is a key part of the U.N.-mandated International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan campaigning to stabilize and reconstruct the nation.

   The official said South Korea will be able to send troops to Afghanistan in the first half of next year. Around 67,000 U.S. soldiers and about 40,000 others from 40 of its allies are stationed there, either supporting the PRT or fighting against the Taliban.

   The government faces the difficult task of convincing the public and opposition parties of the need for a troop dispatch. Many South Koreans view the Afghan war as the war of the U.S., and critics argue South Korea may be drawn into the open-ended campaign.

   The main opposition Democratic Party (DP) indicated it may oppose the troop dispatch plan, which requires parliamentary ratification.

   "Our party will decide on a position through internal discussions," Chung Sye-kyun, head of the liberal party, told Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan, who briefed party officials on the issue earlier in the day.

   "Basically, the Democratic Party has negative sentiment against sending troops abroad if it is not for the U.N. peacekeeping operation (PKO)," he added.

   Kim Ki-jung, a professor at Yonsei University, said the planned troop dispatch will help enhance Seoul's image as a contributor to world peace and demonstrate a robust alliance with Washington.

   He said, however, the government lacks a process for sufficiently collecting public opinion through hearings and other methods in making the grave decision.

   South Korea ended five years of military presence in Afghanistan in 2007 by withdrawing its 200-strong team of military medics and engineers from the country after a South Korean soldier was killed in a terrorist bomb attack and about two dozen South Korean missionaries were kidnapped by the Taliban. Two of them were executed, while all the others were released unharmed after lengthy negotiations between the captors and the South Korean authorities.

   lcd@yna.co.kr
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