Bush Seeks Bigger Role for Korea in Afghanistan
By Jung Sung-ki
Staff Reporter
U.S. President George W. Bush will ask his South Korean counterpart Lee Myung-bak to contribute more to maintaining security in Afghanistan alongside with U.S. and other allied forces there during a summit here today, a senior aide to Bush said.
Cheong Wa Dae officials, however, expressed negative views about the idea of redeploying forces to Afghanistan to support U.S.-led stabilizing operations.
``Obviously we'd like to see a greater role for South Koreans in Afghanistan, if the South Korean people are willing to move in that direction,'' Dennis Wilder, senior director for Asian affairs at the U.S. National Security Council, told reporters aboard Air Force One en route to South Korea according to a transcript released by the White House.
Wilder said: ``I think that is going to be at the heart of their discussion.''
Bush arrived in Seoul Tuesday evening as part of his Asian tour that will also take him to Thailand and China. Bush will meet Lee Wednesday morning and visit a U.S. military base in central Seoul before leaving for Bangkok later in the day.
Senior U.S. officials have urged South Korea to send forces again to Afghanistan since a 195-strong South Korean non-combatant contingent was withdrawn from the Central Asian nation last December.
In a congressional confirmation hearing in April, Kathleen Stephens, the incoming U.S. Ambassador to South Korea, expressed hope that the pro-U.S. Lee administration would play a greater role in Afghanistan.
``I think this is a discussion we should have with the new government. I think we need to discuss what the needs are in Afghanistan and see how they can contribute,'' she said.
Since the troop pullout, South Korea has been contributing to the security of Afghanistan by joining the NATO-led Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT). The PRT is an administrative unit administering international aid to Afghanistan and Iraq, consisting of civilians and military specialists who perform small construction projects or provide security for others involved in aid and reconstruction work.
About 500 South Korean troops are stationed in the northern Iraqi city of Irbil on a humanitarian and rehabilitation mission. The number is a sharp reduction from the more than 3,000 troops initially dispatched to the war-torn Middle East nation in 2004.
``South Korea has demonstrated in Iraq, by the deployment of the Zaytun brigade, that they can play a very, very important role outside of their region, securing peace,'' said Wilder. ``The question is, how do we institutionalize that in terms of South Korea, because I think the South Korean military can really be an enabler to democracy in other areas.''
North Korean Nuclear Issue
North Korea's nuclear disarmament will be a major agenda item for the summit, the third of its kind since Lee's inauguration in February, according to Korean and U.S. officials.
The U.S. government will not remove North Korea from a list of terrorism-sponsoring states on Aug. 11 unless the communist regime agrees to the verification of the dismantlement of its nuclear weapons programs, Wilder said.
The North should agree to a verification protocol that includes its uranium-based nuclear programs and nuclear proliferation, as well as its plutonium-producing nuclear reactor, he said.
``Unless we have from the North Koreans a verification protocol that is robust, the kind of protocol that was presented by five parties to the North Koreans, then August 11th will come and go and there will be no change in the situation,'' he said. ``We are hopeful that we will be able to reach an understanding with the North Koreans, but we're not at the juncture yet.''
Other top topics will be changes in the roles and missions of U.S. Forces Korea, South Korea's joining the U.S. Visa Waiver Program, and the ratification of the Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement.
As for the delayed ratification of the free trade deal signed in June last year, Wilder said, ``We have told them (Congress) that we are going to work very hard, that the American business coalition will work very hard on their behalf, but there are no guarantees that we can get this through the Congress this year.''
Killing of South Korean Tourist in N. Korea
Lee and Bush are also expected to touch on the recent shooting death of a South Korean female tourist at a North Korean resort and the diplomatic tension over the sovereignty of the South Korean islets of Dokdo between Seoul and Tokyo.
``The President would like to see the North Koreans have an open investigation into the matter that South Korea can participate in,'' Wilder said. ``While this isn't a sort of typical case of human rights in North Korea, certainly the circumstances of the shooting of the tourist are disturbing.''
Pyongyang has refused to allow a joint investigation in the death of Park Wang-ja, 55, who was shot dead by a North Korean soldier when she was allegedly strayed into a military restrict zone near the Mt. Geumgang resort.
The North instead threatened to expel South Korean workers from the resort.