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10th Mountain Division patrol during a search operation to hunt members of Taliban in Nerkh district of Wardak province in west of Kabul

The U.S. government has recently requested that the South Korean government re-examine the deployment of soldiers from the South Korean army as part of support for the reconstruction of Afghanistan, sources indicate.

A government official said Sunday that the U.S. government recently presented specific requests through diplomatic channels, including troop deployment and increased financial support from the South Korean government toward the reconstruction of Afghanistan. “The U.S. said that increasing South Korean financial support for Afghanistan was a pressing issue at this time,” the official added.

The requests from the U.S. were communicated immediately following a series of meetings between U.S. Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Holbrooke during his April 16 visit to South Korea and high-ranking South Korean figures in foreign affairs and national security, including President Lee Myung-bak and Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Yu Myung-hwan, sources said.

In connection with the requests, Deputy Foreign Minister Lee Yong-joon met with Holbrooke during a visit to the U.S. from April 29 to May 1. A representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade said that during the meeting, Lee “listened to and exchanged opinions on the U.S. explanation of the regional situation in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and efforts by the international community related to peace and reconstruction in the region.”

While the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade officer only stated that Lee “engaged in comprehensive policy discussions on immediate issues in South Korea-U.S. relations,” another government official said that the core reason for Lee’s visit to the U.S. was to have a “concrete discussion between South Korea and the U.S. on plans for support on the reconstruction of Afghanistan.”

Experts are predicting that the government will expand its financial support for reconstruction projects in Afghanistan in the short term, and carefully examine the issue of troop redeployment before the South Korea-U.S. summit set to take place in Washington on June 16.

“If we ultimately do have to deploy troops to Afghanistan, it will be in the form of humanitarian non-combatant troop support,” a government official said. “There is a possibility that it will mean the redeployment of the Dongui and Dasan units that were withdrawn from Afghanistan in late 2007 or the Zaytun unit in Irbil in Iraq,” the official predicted.

Please direct questions or comments to [englishhani@hani.co.kr]