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Korean Firms Allowed to Make Forays Into
Kurdistan region-Iraq
28.12.2006
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December 28, 2006
South Korea will consider allowing South Korean
companies to operate in the Kurdistan autonomous
region (the northern Iraqi) capital city of Erbil on
a case-by-case basis, government sources said
Thursday.
The Kurdish-controlled Iraqi town is where about
2,200 South Korean troops have been stationed on a
humanitarian and reconstruction mission since 2004.
The government has banned South Korean civilians and
firms from the war-torn nation for security reasons
since June 2004, when an Islamic terrorist group
killed a South Korean worker, Kim Sun-il, to protest
Seoul’s plan to dispatch troops to Iraq.
``We’re still worried that a case similar to the Kim
Sun-il incident may occur again. But there is also a
problem in that the government is preventing all
Korean firms from operating in Iraq though our
country has contributed the third-largest number of
troops to help reconstruct the Middle East
country,’’ a diplomatic source said on condition of
anonymity.
A 20-member on-site investigation team involving
foreign, defense and economic-related ministries
recently visited
Kurdistan region and Iraq to assess current
security conditions there, the source said.
After receiving applications from companies, a
pan-government ad hoc body, comprised of officials
from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, the
Defense Ministry, the Ministry of Construction and
Transportation and other related agencies, will
review business and security plans of companies
concerned to make a final decision on the list of
companies to operate in Erbil, he said.
But the government is undecided over whether to
allow Korean officials to work with their companies
or locals to work with Korean firms, he added.
South Korea’s Zaytun Division, which mostly consists
of engineers and medics, performs a variety of
humanitarian and reconstruction projects to better
the lives of local residents in Erbil.
Coalition forces in Iraq, including the United
States, are said to be seeking to conduct ``Zaytun-like
(civil military) operations’’ to help stabilize the
region and win the hearts of the Kurds.
Despite the troops’ work in the past two years,
however, their efforts have failed to yield economic
benefits as expected earlier, critics say. Many
other foreign nations, such as the United States,
the Netherlands and Russia, are winning contracts on
large-scale construction projects in Erbil,
according to reports.
The Korean troops are to return home by the end of
next year under a troop deployment bill passed by
the National Assembly on Dec. 15.
The Iraq motion calls for reducing the unit’s size
from the current 2,200 to 1,200 by April next year
and setting a specific pullout timeline by June.
hankooki com
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