S. Korea-US Defense Talks Due in Seoul Next Week
Seoul’s Troop Redeployment in Afghanistan May Be on the Table
By Jung Sung-ki
Staff Reporter
U.S. Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates will visit Seoul next week to attend the annual Security Consultative Meeting (SCM) with the South Korean defense chief, officials of the Ministry of National Defense said Monday.
Gates' visit comes about a month ahead of U.S. President Barack Obama's scheduled first trip to South Korea on Nov. 18, they said.
Gates and his South Korean counterpart Kim Tae-young are expected to discuss a range of issues of mutual concern during the SCM on Oct. 21, the officials said.
Key topics include the 2012 transition of wartime operational control of South Korean forces during wartime from the U.S. to Korean commanders and the relocation of U.S. bases south of the Han River.
Sources say the two defense chiefs may discuss South Korea's possible dispatch of troops or police to Afghanistan.
The administration has been deliberating over possible troop redeployment to Afghanistan following the 2007 pullout. Observers say Seoul's decision on the Afghan redeployment could be a fresh test for the half-century-old Seoul-Washington alliance.
Although no formal discussion has been made about the issue, informed sources here say the two governments have already started low-key, working-level talks to prepare for a deployment of either mechanics or combatants, in addition to financial assistance.
President Lee, who puts emphasis on ties with the United States, actually supports a troop contribution to help settle the eight-year-old conflict in the terrorism-stricken Central Asian nation, sources say.
But Cheong Wa Dae is very much aware of a potential public or political backlash over the Afghan issue, as it witnessed massive rounds of candlelit vigils and public protests early last year after agreeing to the resumption of imports of American beef, they say.
War-weary lawmakers and progressive civic activists argue a troop redeployment will make South Korea a major target of international terrorism.