South Korea cancels troops for Iraq

The Associated Press

  • Pages 1

Mar 18, 2004 | South Korea has canceled plans to send troops to the northern Iraqi 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.

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