S. Korean contingent donates thousands of goods to Iraq before departure

By Kim Boram
SEOUL, Dec. 3 (Yonhap) -- A South Korean contingent deployed in Iraq's northern
city of Irbil donated facilities and equipment worth millions of U.S. dollars to
their Iraqi hosts on Wednesday as the unit began pulling out after four years of
deployment, the country's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said here.
The donation was made to the Kurdistan Regional Government that controls the
northern Kurdish-controlled region of Iraq, according to the JCS.
The donated items include a hospital and school building built and operated by
the South Korean Zaytun unit as well as over 36,000 other supplies and equipment,
including buses, trucks and excavators, it said.
"Local residents have called the unit a "gift from God" or "a new member of the
Kurdistan community called Zaytun," the JCS said in a press release. "Such
evaluation owes to the unit's efforts to help the poor and the victims of war."
The unit has provided free medical services to over 88,000 local residents since
its deployment there four years ago. Over 20 Iraqi children have also come to
South Korea for medical treatment on trips organized by the South Korean unit and
the JCS.
The unit was set to start pulling out its troops from Iraq later Wednesday for
complete withdrawal of all its servicemembers by Dec. 20.
brk@yna.co.kr
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