Korean Troops Leave for Lebanon

A contingent of about 60 South Korean combat soldiers will leave for Lebanon later Wednesday to lay the groundwork for the deployment of their comrades, defense officials

said.

South Korea plans to send an additional 300 troops, also mostly combatants, to the Middle East nation in the middle of this month.

The dispatch is in response to a request by the United Nations Interim Forces in Lebanon, which monitors a cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah forces that staged a month-long war.

"The mission of the South Korean troops includes monitoring and reconnaissance near Tyre, a southern Lebanese city," a Defense Ministry official said, asking not to be named.

This will be the fifth time for South Korea to send soldiers on a peacekeeping mission following the dispatch to Somalia, Western Sahara, Angola, and East Timor.