U.S. spy chief visits Seoul to discuss Afghanistan

U.S. intelligence chief Dennis Blair visited Korea this week for discussions on Seoul`s planned troop dispatch to Afghanistan and regional security issues including the North Korean nuclear crisis, government sources said yesterday.

Blair, director of National Intelligence under the Barack Obama administration, also talked about Washington`s latest moves to send additional troops to the Central Asian country in efforts to support the international war against insurgents there, according to sources.

"The U.S. official met several senior Korean officials during his three-day visit, such as Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan and Defense Minister Kim Tae-young," said an official here who declined to be identified.

The two ministers are key coordinators of Seoul`s troop dispatch plans.

Blair also met with National Intelligence Service chief Won Sei-hoon. He arrived in Seoul on Sunday and left on Tuesday.

The trip was part of a regional Asian tour, officials here said.

There is currently a NATO-led multinational force in Afghanistan to fight insurgents and stabilize the country.

Seoul, on the request of the Afghan government, last month pledged to send up to 120-130 more civilian workers to assist with the reconstruction project there, and also hundreds of troops to protect these workers.



Korea is now seeking to erect an independent Provincial Reconstruction Team base since it will now have to house hundreds of individuals, including the troops.

The Defense Ministry and Foreign Ministry expect to send just short of 400 troops to the area.

NATO, however, has yet to accept Korea`s proposal. The U.S. troops in Afghanistan are expected to be a significant factor in the NATO decision, one high-ranking Foreign Ministry official said.

This is because the Korean reconstruction team and troops are likely to build its PRT headquarters in an area the United States has control over, according to a due-diligence government delegation that was in Afghanistan earlier this month.

The Seoul government is currently finalizing consultations for the dispatch among concerned ministries and will consequently soon set the timetable.

Seoul is said to have conveyed this message to Blair.

The Defense Ministry is poised to submit a motion for the troop dispatch as early as next month, after it is endorsed at a weekly cabinet meeting next week.

There is a political divide on the issue, with the main opposition Democratic Party lawmakers opposed to the move citing security concerns.

The ruling Grand National Party promotes the dispatch, saying it is time for Korea to meet growing demands to make bigger contributions to international peace and security.

A recent survey by The Korea Herald found that most lawmakers in the National Assembly`s foreign affairs and defense committees supportive of sending troops and more civilians to Afghanistan.

Korea in late 2007 pulled out military engineers and mechanics after the Taliban killed two Koreans in a missionary group it kidnapped.

North Korea was also on Blair`s agenda, as Pyongyang is set to hold a bilateral meeting with Washington on Dec.8 when U.S. special representative Stephen Bosworth visits the North.

The meeting, demanded by the North, may trigger momentum to restart the six-nation talks aimed at ending Pyongyang`s nuclear weapons programs. North Korea pulled out of the talks on international criticism over its April rocket launch. In May, the North conducted its second nuclear test.

(jemmie@heraldm.com)



By Kim Ji-hyun