Antiwar sentiment still prevails among many civic groups
The National Assembly overwhelmingly approved yesterday a government plan to dispatch troops to Iraq, capping a dispute that has gripped the nation for months.
Lawmakers voted 155 in favor of the dispatch, 50 against with 7 abstaining. Only 212 votes were cast in the 272-seat Assembly. The rest did not attend the voting session without giving specific reasons.
Approval to dispatch about 3,000 combat troops to Iraq in late April had been delayed for two months with political parties split on the plan amid mounting public antiwar sentiment.
A contingent of 1,400 combat troops and 1,600 military engineers and medics would likely be sent to Kirkuk, some 150 kilometers north of Baghdad.
The additional troops, whose unit would be nicknamed Zayitun in Arabic or olive in English, would make South Korea the third largest military contingent in Iraq after the United States and Britain.
It would also be the largest overseas dispatch of troops by the Korean government since the Vietnam War in 1965.
The troops will have responsibility for undertaking an independent security-related mission with the South Korean government bearing all costs, according to the government plan.
"We express gratitude to the National Assembly for making a tough decision in consideration of national interests," said Cheong Wa Dae spokesman Yoon Tai-young.
The United States in early September requested more troops from Korea to counter increased attacks by Iraqi insurgents. This contingent would join about 470 military engineers and medics already operating there since May.
But the decision, which the government says will strengthen Seoul-Washington ties to help resolve the tension over North Korea's nuclear weapons program, has been met with vehement oppositions from the public.
Antiwar sentiment still prevails among many Korean civic groups, which regard the U.S.-led war as unjustified and are concerned about possible casualties among South Korean soldiers.
Several civic activists opposing the dispatch of additional troops to Iraq yesterday morning confronted riot police in front of the official residence of House Speaker Park Kwan-yong in an attempt to hinder the scheduled parliamentary vote in the afternoon. Riot police blocked them from advancing to the house.
"We will launch a campaign to prevent legislators who vote for the bill from being elected in the April general election," a civic activist was quoted as saying.
As the National Assembly was putting the troop dispatch bill to a vote, several hundreds of protestors held a rally outside the parliamentary building, chanting "No troop dispatch to Iraq."
Minor scuffles erupted when some angry protesters attempted to break through a barricade of police buses.
(angiely@heraldm.com)
By Lee Joo-hee
2004.02.14
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