Seoul terminates free medical service in Iraq ahead of troop pullout

SEOUL, Oct. 31 (Yonhap) -- The medical unit of a South Korean contingent in Iraq this week terminated its mission in the Middle Eastern nation, which provided free medical services to over 88,000 Iraqi residents, the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said Friday.

The end of the near four-year service came as the South Korean unit, Zaytun, is
set to withdraw from Iraq in December.
"The unit on Thursday held a ceremony marking the end of its medical service for
local residents and presented the last patient, its 88,805th, with a gift set and
get-well flowers," the JCS said in a press release.
Also present at the ceremony was Jamil Ali, vice minister of health for the
Kurdish Regional Government, it said.
South Korea has maintained a military presence in the Kurdish-controlled northern
Iraqi city of Irbil since 2004. The medical service for local residents began in
November 2004 and marked its 80,000th patient earlier this year.
The South Korean contingent is set to start pulling out of Iraq by early
December, a spokesman for the Defense Ministry said earlier this week.
"The unit will transfer all its missions to U.S. forces there and start pulling
out in early December and will be back in (South Korea) no later than Dec. 20,"
the spokesman, Won Tae-jae, said Wednesday.
bdk@yna.co.kr
(END)