For the love of God can we please keep these people out of Afghanistan?:
The government will send a provincial reconstruction team (PRT) of civic medical experts to Afghanistan to help its rehabilitation.
A Foreign Ministry spokesman said an advance team including the team’s chief will leave for the war-torn nation this week. They will take over the hospital that was operated by Korean troops stationed in Bagram, 47 kilometers north of the capital, Kabul.
The 30-member team of medics and vocational training experts will be sent to Afghanistan in phases until May.
After Korean troops withdrew from the Asian country in December, the Seoul government decided to dispatch a civic reconstruction team for stronger ties with Afghanistan and the United States. [KBS Global]
After the fiasco of the Korean hostage crisis last year that led to the Taliban receiving millions of dollars in ransom money from the South Korean government, there should be a ban on any Koreans traveling to the country. This 30 member team is nothing more than great big walking dollar signs. If something should happen to anybody on this team who do you think Koreans will blame?
Only the Roh government would think that after paying millions to terrorists dedicated to killing Afghan civilians and coalition troops that sending 30 civilians to Afghanistan will build stronger ties with the US. It makes you wonder if this announcement is in response to the release of recent Newsweek article that shows details about the South Korean ransom payment which as One Free Korea explains is material support for terrorism. Sending 30 civilians to Afghanistan isn’t going to change that.
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4:46 pm on February 12th, 2008 1
Only $4Mil for all 21 hostages? I thought they paid more than that? Let’s do the math, for 30 hostages, how much does ROKG have to paid for their safety? $6Mil? I wonder if ROKG have some kind of installment plan to pay off for future kidnapping?
5:36 pm on February 12th, 2008 2
Given that there are nearly six million reason not to welcome South Korea back into Afghanistan I would like to point out the one reason they should return.
Its good for the Koreans. Why not let a carefully vetted group of ROK soldiers redeem their nation’s honor by staring down the bullets that Roh’s gift to the taliban paid for. If the Koreans are ever going to grow out of their damm inferiority complex they need to sweat, suffer and ultimately win something of value. Besides, Real world experience for the current generation of Korean officers/NCO can only help.
Failing and falling down are not shameful things. The shame comes from not getting back up.
5:53 pm on February 12th, 2008 3
If Lee Myung-bak deployed a brigade of ROK Marines to go hunt down these Taliban thugs that killed their citizens then I will be for it, however they are deploying 30 civilians who will be more of a liability for the US than a benefit.
6:33 pm on February 12th, 2008 4
Here’s an idea:
The ROK random paid to the Taliban amounts to material support to terrorism.
Lets put South Korea on the list of nations that actively support terrorism. In exchange for being taken off, they can deploy to Afghanistan a brigade sized force of ROK SF, Rangers, Marines, support personnel, as well as some aviation assets (Chinooks because of the altitude).
This way, a fairly broad portion of the military will get real world experience to bring back to the ROK military, which still has a long way to go to accept OPCON control. The troops sent will be professional enough to actually make an impact, and take care of themselves.
The Korean public might not like it, but that’s never stopped the South Korean government before.
6:35 pm on February 12th, 2008 5
I would also say that since the U.S. is pushing NATO so hard for more troops these days, if South Korea volunteered to step in and fill that void, imagine what it would do for U.S./Korean relations.
6:44 pm on February 12th, 2008 6
They’re probably covert Korean intelligence agents going in to supply the Taliban and Al Quaida with Stinger missiles and training like we used to back when I was a shorty.
9:27 pm on February 12th, 2008 7
I am happy to hear this news story only because it means the Korean restaurant will reopen at Bagram.
In terms of what these Korean PRT/Hospital workers will actually do …
… don’t expect them to leave the wire; instead, the Afghan locals will just bring their patients to the hospital.
10:20 am on April 12th, 2008 8
[...] that killed two of their citizens by not deploying military forces. South Korea already has a small 30 man PRT team in the country [...]