Seoul terminates 4-year deployment in Iraq

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 peices 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.
bdk@yna.co.kr
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