Seoul to send field inspection team to Haiti for PKO mission

(ATTN: UPDATES with possible gov't plan to send helicopter transporter to Haiti in
paras 4-7)
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.
In a related move, a defense ministry source in Seoul said that the government is
carefully considering sending the South Korean peacekeeping troops and equipment
aboard the 14,000-ton Dokdo landing ship.
The 199-meter-long Dokdo, the largest helicopter transporter in Asia, has been in
service since July 2007.
"The military is discussing with related government ministries and agencies the
possibility of using the Dokdo landing ship to carry South Korean peacekeeping
troops bound for Haiti," said the source, asking to remain anonymous.
"If the decision is finalized, two UH-60 helicopters will be loaded on the Dokdo
and used to transport troops, supplies and equipment from sea to the land."
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)