Seoul terminates 4-year deployment in Iraq
- 관리자
- 2008.12.19
- Hit 4195
By Byun Duk-kun SEOUL, Dec. 19 (Yonhap) -- South Korea on Friday completed its troop pullout from Iraq, ending a four-year presence in the northern city of Irbil where troops helped in efforts to reconstruct the war-torn nation.
The last group from the Zaytun contingent in Iraq and an air support unit in neighboring Kuwait arrived here earlier in the day.
Both Zaytun and the Kuwait mission, Daiman, were to be disbanded in a ceremony slated for later Friday.
"The withdrawal put an end to the mission that began four years and three months ago to help rebuild Iraq while providing various means of assistance to the people of the ravaged nation to help improve their lives," an official at the defense ministry said.
Over 18,000 South Korean troops have served in Iraq and Kuwait since the country first dispatched a 3,600-strong unit to the Iraqi city in September 2004, according to the ministry.
Over 88,000 Iraqi residents received free medical services during that time, while the Zaytun Unit also helped build a number of schools and other public facilities, such as health clinics, town halls and a library for local residents.
The unit also donated over 36,000 pieces of heavy equipment and other military supplies to Iraqi forces before its departure, the ministry said.
"I am proud and happy to have contributed what little strength I have to the successful completion of the mission of our unit and building peace in Iraq," said First Sgt. Kim Dae-hyoung, an Air Force engineer who had been dispatched five times to Kuwait, serving a total of 26 months there.
A disbandment ceremony for the Zaytun and Daiman units was to be hosted by Prime Minister Han Seung-soo at the Armed Forces Athletic Corps Command in Seoul, involving all key leaders of the military, including the defense minister and chiefs of the armed services, as well as some 3,000 of the troops' family members.
From Yonhapnews(http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr)