South Korea Plans Withdrawal of Troops in Iraq by End of Next Year
South Korea says it plans to withdraw all its troops from Iraq by the end of 2007. South Korean officials said Thursday the government will draw up a plan by the end of June to wrap up the mission. Seoul has been the third largest contributor of international forces in Iraq, behind the United States and Britain.
In 2004, South Korea deployed about 35-hundred troops to Iraq. Since then it has reduced the contingent to 23-hundred. South Korea is the latest member of the U.S.-led multinational coalition in Iraq to announce a timetable for withdrawal. Earlier this week, Britain said it expects to withdraw thousands of troops next year. Britain has 72-hundred soldiers in southern Iraq.
Poland also says it will pull its remaining 900 soldiers out of Iraq by the end of next year.
韩国表示，它计划2007年年底前撤出驻伊拉克的所有军队。韩国官员星期四说，韩国政府将在6月底以前制定出结束伊拉克使命的计划。韩国是继美国和英国之后，向伊拉克派遣维和部队最多的国家。
2004 年，韩国向伊拉克部署了大约3500部队。自那以后，韩国已经把驻军减少到了2300人。韩国是美国领导的伊拉克多国部队中最新一个宣布撤军时间表的国家。这个星期早些时候，英国宣布，计划明年年底前撤走数千部队。英国目前在伊拉克南部地区部署了7200人。波兰也表示，要在明年年底前撤走目前仍在伊拉克的所有900名军人。
