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Partial withdrawal of South Korean troops
from Kurdistan-Iraq
9.5.2006
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Seoul, May 9 ,- The first partial withdrawal of
South Korean troops from Iraq is due to start
Tuesday May 9, 2006 in Kurdistan (the northern
Iraqi) city of Erbil.
The joint chiefs of staff said on Monday that the
Zaytun Unit would be downsized by some 1,000
soldiers and by year's end there will be 2,200
soldiers left, the South Korean newspaper Chosun
Ilbo reports. South Korea has had the third largest
peacekeeping force in Iraq, afrer the Americans and
the British.
Parliament last year passed a bill to bring home
almost one third of the 3,200 South Korean soldiers
currently in Iraq.
The South Korean troops are stationed in the
Kurdish-controlled town of Erbil, in Kurdistan
(northern Iraq). While the security situation there
is much better than Baghdad's, it has still suffered
sporadic violence.
The soldiers were deployed to underpin the close
military alliance between Washington and South
Korea, which relies on US forces to defend it
against possible attack by North Korea. But many
South Koreans have questioned how real a threat this
is, and the deployment of troops in Iraq is
unpopular with the public.
Last November violent anti-American demonstrations
greeted US president George W. Bush when he arrived
in South Korea on an eight-day tour of Asia.
Adnki com
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