3,000 Troops to Be Dispatched in Late April

With the troop dispatch consent bill passed in the National Assembly on February 13, the largest troop dispatch since the Vietnam War will be implemented in late April.

The Assembly put up the controversial consent bill for voting in the plenary meeting the same day and passed the bill with 155 votes for, 50 votes against, and seven abstentions with 212 voters among 271 representatives present.

The government will officially launch the Iraq Peace Rehabilitation Division – Jaitoon Units – until February 23 with a scope of 3,000 people and dispatch them to northern Iraq by the end of April. The total number of dispatched troops will amount to 3,600 people including Seo-hui (the military engineers) and Jema (the medical detachment) Units, which have been already sent.

Jaitoon Units (jaitoon meaning olive in Arabic) is mainly comprised of special troops with both female and male soldiers of combat and non-combat troops. They will participate in post-war rehabilitation activities, give relief supplies, establish peace, reconstruct buildings, and help function Iraqi autonomous administrative bodies.

Spokesperson Yoon Tae-young at Cheong Wa Dae reported right after the passing of the bill in a commentary, “We are grateful to the National Assembly to make a resolute decision considering the national interests.” Chung Soon-gyun, spokesperson of the government and the head of the Government Information Agency, said, “We will open the ‘Pan-government Troop Dispatch Promotion Committee’ with related ministries including the Defense Ministry and the International Affairs and Trade Ministry to establish plans on Iraq rehabilitation and building a friendly environment in the Arabic world step-by-step as well as the plans to secure the safety of the dispatched troops.”

Prior to the voting, Rep. Kim Kyung-jae, Kim Young-hwan, Park Keum-ja, and Chung Buhm-koo of the Millennium Democratic Party (MDP) appealed for the rejection of the bill to fellow representatives saying, “The dispatch troops to Iraq are literally combat troops, and we are against the troop dispatch for this war without a cause.”

The MDP had decided to collectively vote against the consent bill at the party level, but the Uri Party was unable to finalize their party’s policy and decided to vote for the bill, adopting the suggestion from the general meeting of representatives.

Additionally, the Assembly will open a plenary meeting on February 16 and address the Korea-Chile FTA ratification bill.

Young-Chan Yoon Ho-Won Choi yyc11@donga.com bestiger@donga.com