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Government Says Troop Dispatch Will Continue As Scheduled

Government Says Troop Dispatch Will Continue As Scheduled

Posted June. 21, 2004 22:15,   

한국어

The Korean government took measures to resolve the hostage crisis by hurriedly sending a countermeasure team headed by the ambassador Jang Jae-ryong of the headquarters of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT) to Jordan on June 21 to handle the abduction of Kim Sun-il, an employee of Gana General Trading Co.

On 8:00 a.m. this day, the government urgently called for a standing committee of the National Security Council hosted by Assistant to the President and National Security Affairs Kwon Jin-ho and decided to try with all its might for Kim’s safe release, but to drive forward with the troop dispatch as scheduled, which is seen as a way of supporting Iraq’s rebuilding process.

The vice minister of the MFAT, Choi Young-jin, stated in a briefing after the meeting that “our troop dispatch is for rebuilding and supporting Iraq, and there is no chance of a change in our position.”

The government also made clear that it is trying with all its might to handle the situation as it has consulted with the Clerics Council in Iraq, the CPA, the MFNC and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Iraq through the Korean Embassy to Iraq where an urgent countermeasure headquarters has been set up.

The government is also known to have tried to contact the group of Abu Musab al-Zarkawi who leads a resistant group named “Shield for Unity and Holy War.” This group abducted Kim.

The government also revealed that it advised the 67 Koreans who remain in Iraq to withdraw except in unavoidable cases.

Before that, President Roh Moo-hyun hosted a meeting of his chief secretaries and aides in Cheong Wa Dae this morning and directed “related government agencies centering on the MFAT to make every effort to save Kim.”

Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon, who is taking part in the Asia Cooperation Dialogue (ACD) held in Quingdao, China, asked for active help in a call to U.S. Secretary of State Collin Powell on the spot.

The government also decided to strengthen Korean protective actions and anti-terror preventive actions at home and abroad in an anti-terror committee meeting hosted by Acting Prime Minister Lee Hun-jae this day.



Jung-Hun Kim Seung-Ryun Kim jnghn@donga.com srkim@donga.com