S. Korean officials return from Afghan fact-finding mission

By Sam Kim
SEOUL, Dec. 21 (Yonhap) -- A team of South Korean officials returned home Monday
after a six-day fact-finding mission to Afghanistan, where their government plans
to deploy troops to support the reconstruction of the Central Asian country, an
official said.

The 12-member team, led by Army Col. Kim Woon-yong, left on Dec. 16 to meet with
U.S. and Afghan officials in Parwan Province and study the situation there as
well as its terrain and climate, the official said.
"It is our assessment that hostile activities (against foreign troops) in Parwan
have been on a declining trend since October," Park Sung-woo, spokesperson for
the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters, referring to the Taliban insurgency.
The Taliban threatened "bad consequences" earlier this month after South Korea
announced it would deploy up to 350 troops to protect its civilian reconstruction
workers in Parwan Province.
The support plan, which would maintain the troops in Afghanistan from July next
year through the end of 2012, is currently under parliamentary review in South
Korea.
"The South Korean officials met with those from the U.S. military and the local
Parwan government while inspecting areas" where South Korean troops would be
stationed, Park said.
Park said the team was composed of four defense ministry officials and eight
civilians, some of whom came from the foreign ministry.
"Overall cooperation went well there," Park said, adding the U.S. has shown a
"positive response" to South Korean requests to help maintain military equipment
to be sent from Seoul.
South Korea plans to deploy four helicopters to get around on the rugged terrain
in the province north of Kabul. South Korea withdrew some 200 military medics and
engineers in 2007 following its negotiations to secure the release of 23 South
Korean Christian missionaries held captive by the Taliban. Two were killed, and
the rest released.
samkim@yna.co.kr
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