Seoul concludes Iraq mission, set to withdraw troops

SEOUL, Dec. 1 (Yonhap) -- South Korea on Monday officially terminated all
military operations in Iraq, with troops there preparing for a complete
withdrawal before Christmas, the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said.

The move comes more than four years after the country first dispatched the
3,600-strong Zaytun contingent to the Kurdish-controlled northern Iraqi city of
Irbil. Troop levels were later reduced to 520 following four extensions of duty.
"The Zaytun unit, deployed to Iraq's Irbil area in September 2004, has since
provided medical services to 88,805 local residents, while also providing classes
on various vocational technologies, including computer and equipment maintenance,
vehicle repairs and bakery, to 2,299 people," the JCS said in a press release.
The decision to pull out the troops was made late last year when the National
Assembly agreed to approve a one-year extension of deployment with no possibility
for another extension.
The unit will start pulling out Wednesday, along with troops from an air support
unit based in neighboring Kuwait, according to the JCS. The withdrawal will be
completed before Dec. 20.
A ceremony hosted by Gen. Raymond T. Odierno, the U.S. commander of the
Multinational Force-Iraq, will be held in Irbil later Monday to mark the
termination of South Korean operations there, the JCS said.
bdk@yna.co.kr
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