More details seen on Iraq troops

In his meeting Wednesday in Washington with Choe Byung-yul, head of the opposition Grand National Party, U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense Richard Lawless reiterated the U.S. request that more South Korean troops be deployed to Iraq but added many details about the request that had not been disclosed publicly before, the JoongAng Ilbo reported yesterday. He also reportedly told Mr. Choe that he had “quietly” delivered the same request to the Blue House.
Appearing Wednesday before the National Assembly’s foreign relations and unification committee, Yoon Young-kwan, the minister of foreign affairs and trade, said that the United States did not “specify troop size, and requested a light infantry division able to operate on its own.” Prior to Mr. Yoon’s remark, a Blue House official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, referred to the small size of the requested force in calling it a “Polish-style” division.
The lack of details in the government explanation given so far has led legislators to question whether the government was telling the public all it knows. Park Jin, the Grand National Party’s spokesman, who was present at the Lawless-Choe meeting, said, “Our government must have heard more in detail.”
Legislators of the governing Millennium Democratic Party also pondered the government’s explanation. Representative Chun Yong-taek, a former defense minister, said, “I cannot believe that the U.S. Department of Defense would request South Korean troops be sent to Iraq without informing us about the size and the mission of the troops to be dispatched.” But lawmakers said that Mr. Lawless may have asked Seoul officials not to disclose the details.

by Park Seung-hee