S. Korea to hold inter-agency meeting on Afghan aid

(ATTN: CLARIFIES number of S. Korean workers in U.S. military base in 3rd para)
By Lee Chi-dong
SEOUL, Nov. 2 (Yonhap) -- South Korea was set to hold an inter-agency meeting
later Monday to prepare for its troop dispatch to Afghanistan, Seoul's foreign
ministry said.
Seoul announced its decision last Friday to send an independent "Provincial
Reconstruction Team" (PRT) to the South Asian country. It will be composed of
more than 50 civilian aid workers and around 300 military troops tasked only with
protecting them.
The PRT will be run separately from the U.S. PRT in its Air Force Base in Bagram,
north of Kabul, as the number of South Korean workers there will increase from
the current 24 to about 85 early next year. South Korea is working to build a
large hospital and job-training center inside the base.
The South Korean government is expected to send a fact-finding team sometime this
month to decide how many soldiers will be sent and where they will be based.
The pan-governmental consultations, scheduled to begin at 5 p.m., will be
attended by officials from the foreign ministry, defense ministry, the Joint
Chiefs of Staff, and the police, ministry spokesman Moon Tae-young said.
"In the meeting, South Korea's plan to set up a PRT, send a fact-finding team,
and other related issues will be discussed," he said, adding additional meetings
of that kind will be held if necessary.
South Korea withdrew its 200 troops from Afghanistan in 2007 but has been under
pressure to make more contributions there.
lcd@yna.co.kr
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