PSPD in English Peace/Disarmament 2009-06-30   1321

Scrutinize the Extension of the Dispatch of Korean Troops to UNIFIL(United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon)


Government submitted the Bill without providing minimum information for deciding the extension of UNIFIL participation

Scrutinize the effectiveness of UNIFIL operation including dispatch term and scale, tasks and costs

Imprudent dispatch of Korean troops resulted in victimizing Koreans for terrorist attacks



The PSPD submits a written statement on the bill which extends the dispatch of Korean troops to UNIFIL(United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon). The Korean government has dispatched its troops of 359 soldiers to Lebanon as a part of UNIFIL operation since July 2007 while the dispatch was extended in July 2008 and this is the second request for extension.


The re-extension bill submitted to the National Assembly does not provide sufficient information for deciding whether approving or disapproving the extension. The National Assembly requested an evaluation report about activities of the Korean troops in Lebanon when the extension bill was submitted in 2008. However, the Lee Myungbak government still provides neither any information nor an evaluation report.


The Lee government has to provide information about troops’ accomplishments, effectiveness of the dispatch, and current circumstances of Lebanon with the National Assembly and people before requesting the extension. Then, the National Assembly has to closely examine missions, scale, and costs for dispatching the troops to Lebanon before approving.


The peacekeeping operation of the UN and the international community has failed to deter Israel from making several big or small battles, which have caused injuring and killing civilians as well as soldiers in Lebanon. The implementation of the Resolution 1701 of the UN Security Council including disarmament of the armed groups in Lebanon, demilitarization of the Blue Line and withdrawal of the Israeli armed forces from Lebanon has been hardly achieved.


Exceptionally, The Israeli government has provided the cluster bomb map with the UN. Israel used 4 million cluster bomblet on Lebanon during the 33 day war with Hezebolla militants in Lebanon in 2006. About a quarter did not explode and left-over munitions have killed or maimed about 300 civilians.


Kidnapping and killing Korean civilians in Yemen have repeatedly happened. Indiscriminating killings of civilians never be tolerated. However, the reason behind targeting Korean people for a terror is imprudent dispatch of the Korean troops based on not an close examination of the causes and effects of conflicts in that region but grabbing interests and alliance with the US.


Although dispatch of a troop to overseas should be deeply considered and closely examined, both the Korean government and the National Assembly have customarily dispatched the Korean troops without an proper examination. Now, the National Assembly has to comprehensively review the policies regarding the dispatch of the Korean troops. The Korean government has to seek effective and appropriate alternative rather than dispatching troops for bringing peace to the Middle East region.

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