- "South Korea said yesterday it was drafting plans
for the deployment of no more than 3000 troops to help with peacekeeping
and reconstruction in Iraq ñ well short of the 10,000 requested
by Washington."
-
- SEOUL -- South Korea has
ordered a halt to all operations by its troops in southern Iraq until security
is fully guaranteed in the area, the Japanese Kyodo news agency said today.
-
- Kyodo, monitored in London by the BBC, said in a dispatch
from Seoul that the South Korean General Staff had ordered its troops to
stand down on Thursday, a day after a suicide bombing that killed 18 Italians
in the southern Iraqi town of Nassiriya.
-
- It gave no details.
-
- Since May, about 700 South Korean medical and engineering
troops have been working out of a United States base in Nassiriya without
incident. Replacements for the initial contingent began flying out last
month.
-
- South Korea said yesterday it was drafting plans for
the deployment of no more than 3000 troops to help with peacekeeping and
reconstruction in Iraq ñ well short of the 10,000 requested by Washington.
A presidential spokesman would not be drawn on whether combat troops would
be included.
-
- In a meeting with security and foreign affairs ministers
several days before a visit to Seoul by US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld,
South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun told them to work out a plan "that
can win national agreement".
-
- South Korea has said it would likely focus on reconstruction
and leave security to local forces.
-
- Roh aides have offered different dates and various numbers
for when a final decision on dispatch of troops would be made ñ
ranging from December to as late as next April, after parliamentary elections.
-
- But South Korean Defence Minister Cho Young-kil told
reporters on Tuesday that a final decision would probably be revealed during
Rumsfeld's visit.
-
- Roh's deployment decision forces him to weigh strong
public opposition to the Iraq war against Seoul's desire to shore up its
military alliance with Washington in the face of communist North Korea's
nuclear ambitions.
-
- He was elected with support from anti-US constituencies,
and has faced protests against the Iraq deployment. Activists plan to hold
weekend rallies to protest Rumsfeld's visit and oppose the proposed Iraq
mission.
-
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