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South Korea is considering to pull out one third of its 3,200 troops stationing in Iraq, according to a lawmaker of the ruling Uri Party Tuesday.
The Uri Party and the government were considering cutting the number of South Korean troops in Iraq by 1,000, South Korean Yonhap news agency quoted Kim Sung-gon, a lawmaker of the Uri Party, as reporting.
"It is inevitable to withdraw some of the troops, as American, British and other foreign forces are pushing for withdrawal or reduction of their soldiers (there)," said Kim who serves as a chief policy coordinator for the party.
He also pointed out the consideration came at a time when public sentiment was growing increasingly unfavorable to the deployment of South Korean troops in Iraq.
"The government's assessment of reducing about 1,000 soldiers is appropriate," he said adding, "Mainly, combat soldiers will be included on the list, while medics and engineers will be retained, as there is a growing demand for medics and engineers in Iraq."
The lawmaker also said there will be no big problem in cutting the number of troops, as the Iraqi government will take power officially and the Middle Eastern nation will be able to handle its own security.
Under the request of the US, which is South Korea's close ally, Seoul government started dispatching a total of some 3,600 troops to Irbil, capital of the Kurdish Autonomous Region in Iraq, in August 2004.
During the one-year deployment, some 400 South Korean troops were withdrawn from Iraq with several times of replacement of the troops.
The current 3,200 South Korean troops there are still the third largest foreign military presence, after the US and Britain.
In January this year, South Korean National Assembly approved a bill of extension of the deployment of the South Korean troops in Iraq from the end of 2004 to the end of 2005.
(Xinhua News Agency September 6, 2005)
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