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S. Korea begins cutting troop presence in Iraq
SEOUL, South Korea - South Korea on Tuesday began bringing troops home from Iraq under a plan to scale back its presence there by a third, military officials said. Seoul plans to withdraw about 1,000 of its 3,200-member contingent stationed in northern Iraq by the end of this year.The first group of 40 soldiers left Tuesday as part of a troop rotation, in which South Korea brought home more troops than those sent to Iraq to replace them, the Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement. The countrys parliament endorsed the cutback plan in December, when lawmakers also approved extending the overall deployment by another year. South Korea deployed nearly 3,600 troops in the northern Iraq city of Irbil in 2004, making it the second-largest US coalition partner after Britain. Even after the withdrawal, South Koreas contingent will be one of the largest foreign units in Iraq. Posted by: Steve White 2006-05-10 |
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