Seoul to send PKO troops to Haiti next week after Assembly approval

SEOUL, Feb. 5 (Yonhap) -- South Korea plans to send peacekeeping troops to Haiti
as early as next week if parliament votes to approve a motion on the planned
dispatch next Tuesday or Wednesday as anticipated, according to a government
official.

A key member of the National Assembly's foreign affairs committee told reporters
Friday that his committee will vote on the Haiti peacekeeping motion on Monday,
forecasting its passage through the Assembly's plenary session is likely to come
by mid-week.
Officials at the foreign ministry said the dispatch of peacekeepers will come
soon after the parliament approves the related motion.
The pending motion calls for sending up to 250 South Korean troops, mostly
engineers, to the Caribbean country, hit on Jan. 12 by an earthquake of
7.0-magnitude. According to reports, some 200,000 people were killed in Haiti.
"The United Nations initially asked to send additional PKO troops within two
weeks following its adoption of a resolution on Jan. 19, calling for urgent
assistance for the earthquake-hit nation," a foreign ministry official said,
asking not to be identified.
"It takes us little more time because we need to secure the National Assembly's
approval for the dispatch, but we are working to complete the process (of sending
troops) within a month since the U.N. request," the official added.
The South Korean unit will be stationed in Leogane, a port city located some 30
kilometers west of the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince, according to the
official, who returned this week after a trip to Haiti as part of an on-site
inspection team.
The unit will also include about 20 military medical officers and a small group
of special operation forces, the official said.
South Korea has pledged over US$16 million worth of relief supplies in both
government and civilian assistance to the Caribbean nation.
bdk@yna.co.kr
(END)

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