Non-combat troops may be sent to Afghanistan

The Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan said Monday that the government plans to increase the number of its civilian workers in Afghanistan to around 130 and possibly send troops to protect them, according to Yonhap News.



"The dispatch of combat troops is not being considered, but we are taking various ideas into account, including sending police or troops who can protect Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) workers," Yu told lawmakers. The government "will decide the details through consultations with the National Assembly," he added.



Yu has been highly cautious when speaking on the possibility of sending troops to Afghanistan, a highly sensitive issue in South Korea where anti-American and anti-war rallies are frequent, although the country is a close ally of the United States.



In 2007, Korea pulled its 200-strong team of military medics and engineers out of Afghanistan, terminating their mission.



It has instead stationed about two dozen medical staff and job trainers at the U.S. Air Force Base in Bagram, 80km north of Kabul, to assist the U.S. PRT efforts.



Seoul has already promised to increase the number of its civilian workers there to around 90 by early next year, when its ongoing construction of a large-scale hospital and a job training center at the Bagram base is scheduled for completion.

Yu reaffirmed that Korea will make more contributions. "We plan to dispatch at least about 130 civilian specialists for the reconstruction of Afghanistan," he said, without mentioning a concrete timeline.

When asked to give specifics, he only said the specialists will include medical workers and vocational and police trainers. Also at issue is how to guard them without the help of the U.S., he added.

"The government will soon decide which would be better -- sending the police or troops -- through consultations with the National Assembly," he said.