Seoul to send field inspection team to Haiti for PKO mission

SEOUL, Jan. 25 (Yonhap) -- South Korea will send a group of officials to Haiti
this week to survey conditions in the earthquake-hit nation for a possible
dispatch of its troops for a peacekeeping mission, Seoul's foreign ministry said
Monday.

The group, consisting of 10 officials from the foreign and defense ministries and
the Joint Chiefs of Staff, will depart Friday on a seven-day trip, the ministry
said.
The move comes as Seoul plans to send a 200-member peacekeeping unit to the
Caribbean country that was hit by a 7.0-magnitude earthquake on Jan. 12.
Seoul's Vice Foreign Minister Chun Yung-woo was in New York last week for talks
with U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and other officials on Seoul's plan to
assist U.N. efforts to maintain stability in Haiti.
South Korea has pledged over US$10 million in short-term and long-term relief aid
to Haiti.
Officials at the foreign ministry earlier said the envisioned dispatch of troops
could take place as soon as March if the parliament moves quickly to approve the
plan during its extraordinary session slated for next month.
(END)

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