North Korea Urges Immediate Pullout of South Troops From Iraq
Posted on: Friday, 2 December 2005, 12:00 CST
Text of report in English by South Korean news agency Yonhap
Seoul, 2 December: North Korea on Friday [2 December] criticized South Korea for passing a motion seeking to extend the deployment of South Korean troops in Iraq for another year, calling on the South to withdraw its troops immediately from Iraq.
The South Korean government decided to extend its troops' deployment in Iraq for another year but downsize the contingent by one third in a Cabinet meeting presided over by Prime Minister Lee Hae-chan on 21 November.
The move is aimed at building up the country's operational capability to attack the North in the event of an emergency on the Korean Peninsula by breeding its army's combat experience in Iraq, claimed the Secretariat of Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland, the North's powerful party organization, according to a report by the North's official Korean Central News Agency.
The committee is the arm of the ruling Workers' Party responsible for propaganda related to South Korea.
The secretariat also said that if the South wishes to maintain reconciliatory and cooperative relations with the North and see a stable and peaceful Iraq, it should immediately withdraw from Iraq.
The body also called on South Koreans to protest their government's move, branding Seoul's decision to extend its troop deployment in Iraq as a criminal act against all Koreans which could potentially spark a nuclear war on the peninsula.
About 3,200 South Korean troops have been stationed in the northern Iraqi town of Arbil for a humanitarian, reconstruction mission since 2003.
Source: BBC Monitoring Asia Pacific
Related Articles
- Korea's Pantech Deploys Radware's ADC Solution to Create Next-Generation IT Infrastructure for New R&D Center
- Panasonic Thailand, One of South East Asia's Largest Consumer Electronic Manufacturers, Deploys Multiple Procera Networks' PacketLogic Appliances
- JDSU Forms Alliance With ULVAC to Extend Deployment of Leading Edge Optical Coating Platform to Meet Demands of Industrial Market in Asia
- Alcoa Sponsors Ferrari Panamerican 20,000; The 84-Day Test Drive of the 599 GTB Fiorano Travels 16 Countries in South, Central and North America; Fiorano Has an Alcoa Aluminum Space Frame
- Rumsfeld awaits Iraq cabinet before troop decision
- Training Stop on the Way to Iraq: Fort Lewis Troops Practice in Calif.
- Afghan TV Reports Arrival of First British Troops to Be Deployed in Helmand
- North Korea Reports Reunification Body's Criticism of South's Iraq Mission
- South Daily Says North Korea Talks Delegates May Discuss New Venue
- Australia says no plans to take south Iraq control
 |
 |
User Comments (0)
RSS Feeds