First Spain, then Poland, Honduras and most likely some other Latin American countries, and now South Korea is telling the US to fight it’s own battles. The “coalition of the willing” seems to crumbling fast…
South Korea refuses to send troops to Northern Iraq for ‘offensive operations’
South Korea has canceled plans to send troops to northern Iraq city of Kirkuk, citing U.S. pressure to participate in “offensive operations” that are contrary to Seoul’s mission of peaceful reconstruction, the Defense Ministry said Friday. The ministry said that it was looking for a new location to send the 3,600 troops it has promised to dispatch to Iraq to aid in rebuilding the country. “South Korea and the United States share the understanding that it was inevitable to change the location of our troop dispatch because the security in Kirkuk, our original candidate area, has worsened,” the ministry said in a statement. “The United States cited inevitability for offensive operations to keep security in order in the Kirkuk area, and proposed that a certain number of U.S. troops would remain in Kirkuk to continue to conduct stabilization operations under the tactical control of South Korea,” the statement said.
The South Korean side said the U.S. proposal does not jibe with South Korea’s intention to “keep its own operational command system and conduct peaceful reconstruction.” Earlier this year, the South Korean parliament approved the dispatch of 3,600 troops - in a mission code named “Zaytun,” or olive in Arabic - to help with Iraqi reconstruction, making South Korea the biggest coalition partner after the United States and Britain. The troops, to include special forces and marines, were to head to the northern Iraqi town of Kirkuk and take control of reconstruction and security needs in the area. But local media reports have said the United States asked to keep a small number of its own troops in a particularly unstable area of the region. South Korea reportedly bristled at having them in its area of command. About 460 South Korean medics and military engineers have already been in southern Iraq for almost a year, and will come home when the new dispatch is sent. Prime Minister Goh Kun, acting president after the National Assembly impeached President Roh Moo-hyun last Friday, assumed duty over the weekend promising to follow through on the Iraq mission.