Lawmakers push for S.K. troop withdrawal from Iraq

Citing Democrats’ sweep of U.S. mid-term elections, legislators ask to bring S.K. troops home

Following Republicans’ crushing defeat in U.S. mid-term elections last week, South Korean lawmakers are raising their voice for the withdrawal of the nation’s troops from Iraq, an argument that could prompt clashes with the government, which plans to push for an extension of their stay in the war-ravaged country.

A group of lawmakers from the ruling Uri Party and several from the main opposition Grand National Party said that they will submit a resolution demanding an immediate pullout of the some 2,300 South Korean troops stationed in Iraq.

The move comes amid plans by the Defense Ministry to submit a bill to the National Assembly asking for the extension of the stay of South Korean soldiers in Iraq, following a troop reduction.

"Though the ministry is planning to scale down the number of troops in Iraq to 1,200, we have no reason to play a supporting role in the U.S.-initiated war," said Rep. Im Jong-in of the Uri Party. "Even those lawmakers that were initially in favor of the dispatch are leaning toward opposition to the war following the mid-term elections in the U.S.," he added.

U.S. Democrats won the majority in Congress in mid-term elections held last week, an outcome that many analysts say highlights the failure of Washington’s policy toward Iraq.

Rep. Lee Mi-kyung of the Uri Party, who voted in favor of the government’s move to extend the stay of the troops in Iraq last year, told The Hankyoreh that "now is the time to pull back the troops," at a time when even Britain and Japan are calling back their solders, she said.

The GNP has not set its official party line on the issue, but sources say that an increasing number of lawmakers is pushing for troop withdrawal. "The mood is ripening even in the U.S. for a troop pullback after the mid-term elections," Rep. Lee Jae-oh of the party said. "Why should we keep our troops there?"

While the minor opposition Millennium Democratic Party remain cautious on the issue, the minor progressive Democratic Labor Party is likely to oppose a bill to extend the soldiers’ stay and join the move to urge the government to withdraw South Korean troops from Iraq, a party source said.

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