By Remember the normal caveats apply when it comes to Korean polls that are notoriously unreliable, so take it for what it is worth:
About half South Koreans view positively the sending of non-combat forces to Afghanistan if the U.S. government requests Seoul to do so, a recent public opinion survey found.
A poll conducted by the Social Trend Institute showed that 49.7 percent of respondents answered positively to dispatching non-military forces such as medical doctors, construction workers and education workers to Afghanistan.
About 28.3 percent opposed the idea.
The same survey also found more South Koreans are critical about the Lee Myung-bak administration’s foreign policy toward the United States.
About 52.4 percent answered unfavorably toward President Lee’s U.S. policy, while 43.4 percent backed it.
The poll of 700 citizens was taken on August 7 with a margin of error of plus or minus 3.7 percentage points. [Korea Times]
The Bush administration should do Lee Myung-bak a favor and not request this return of Koreans to Afghanistan even if they are non-military after the debacle that happened with last year’s hostage crisis that saw the South Korean government embarrassingly withdraw their reconstruction troops in Afghanistan and pay the Taliban millions of dollars to help fund their efforts to kill American and international troops.
Why do I recommend the Bush administration give up on this idea of Korea sending non-military forces? Well just think who will many Koreans blame if one of these PRT or policemen are kidnapped or killed? We already saw the answer to this question during the hostage crisis.
6:36 pm on August 11th, 2008 1
Bush really needs the Koreans back in Afghanistan just for show purposes in the international coalition against terrorism. But do you really want them back after the fiasco that occurred last time?
I would recommend that they consider the ROK being attached to another unit. For example, the 500-man Colombian contingent headed for Afghanistan will be attached to the Spanish units.
Maybe they can attach the ROK unit to the Japanese unit — if there is one — and see how much fighting spirit can be generated between the two. Hopefully they can catch the Taliban in the crossfire. The war would be over in two weeks.
But seriously, there is a need for them back in Afghanistan for the media image — but they should not be allowed back in as a separate unit. Their pullout was a disgrace to the entire Afghanistan effort. They need to be attached to a larger war-fighting group as a support element.
3:55 am on August 12th, 2008 2
If the beef issue had not happened, I would seriously consider Lee sending in combat troops. I still don't know if it would end up bad for his administration, but it would be much more of a gamble now. This is one of the things where not teaching in Korea at the moment really hampers my guesses…
How Korean forces were taken out of Afghanistan was a fiasco. Koreans most likely know that. I also wonder if Korean society feels their Iraq dispatch makes them look weak because of where they demanded they be sent and how little they have been involved.
Lee seems to like bold moves – and sending in elite Korean troops – even a fairly small contingent – would be bold.
I can see Korean society rising up in arms against it.
I can also see the opposite happening — Korean society taking a shine to the move as a bold statement of Korean strength.
The time might be right for such a move too. Lee has already taken his beating from the public – putting him in his place and letting him know he can be bashed at will.
He should have something of a delayed honeymoon now….
Korea is also in the mood to flex their muscles, at least a little, with all the Dok stuff. (I am going to follow Michael Breen's suggestion and stop calling the place an "island") – like the navel exercise and dispatch of a security force…
More than likely, at some point over the next four years, Korea is going to be asked to send troops elsewhere —- like they did not too long ago into Lebanon (sp?).
I don't think not sending troops to Afghanistan is a clear no brainer…
5:21 am on August 12th, 2008 3
The ROK has had no problem with dispatching its troops on UN peace missions as it gives them credibility at the UN. However, this Afghanistan thing is a US initiative — that it handed off to NATO to give it an international presence.
The Afghanistan fiasco was only a year ago in Jul-Aug 2007. I don't believe that "poll" one bit. When the hostages came back, the government charged them for their airfare back and no one in the public showed up to greet them at the airport (besides their own group). The public didn't raise a peep when the troops were pulled out. When they sent 10 policemen to train at the Afghan Police Academy, it was a worthless gesture — and the Korean people didn't even bother commenting on it in either in approval or disapproval. It simply got indifference.
I simply cannot believe that 50 percent of the ROK citizenry has changed their minds about getting involved in Afghanistan again. That the poll justifies any LMB action to support George Bush's request for support makes this poll highly suspect.