Yu Myung-hwan, Foreign Minister |
By Kim Sue-young
Staff Reporter
The government plans to send more civilian reconstruction workers and security forces to Afghanistan in March or April next year, the nation's top diplomat indicated Tuesday.
Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan said Korea is considering sending the workers to Parwan and Bamiyan provinces near the Afghan capital of Kabul.
Details will be made based on a six-day inspection of sites there by a government team that ended Tuesday, Yu told reporters in Seoul.
Currently, 30 civilians are working for reconstruction at the Bagram airbase, offering vocational programs and police training.
``The two areas are thought to be the most suitable sites. We are discussing the matter with the Afghan government,'' Yu said.
Seoul announced last month it would dispatch more members to the Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) and security forces.
The minister stressed that security is the top concern when it comes to deploying troops to Afghanistan again.
``Several places which are safe and where fewer skirmishes take place are under study,'' he said. ``We also have to consider a possible synergy effect with the Bagram region and activities of South Korean companies in Afghanistan.''
A detailed schedule has yet to be determined, but it is likely to take at least four to five months before the procedures required to deploy troops, such as getting National Assembly approval, are completed, he added.
The government has not decided on the number of workers, either, but about 130 workers and hundreds of security troops are expected to be dispatched to the war-torn country.
The inspection team, led by Deputy Foreign Minister Lee Yong-joon, met with Afghan officials, including Foreign Minister R. D. Spanta, Defense Minister A. R. Wardak and Gen. Stanley McChrystal, U.S. commander of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), according to ministry officials.
Korea withdrew its troops, medics and engineers from Afghanistan in 2007 after 23 missionaries were kidnapped by the Taliban.
Two of the hostages were killed before the remaining 21 were released under the condition that Seoul remove its forces from the country.
ksy@koreatimes.co.kr
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