Text Fwd: Inauguration of PKO for Haiti Mission Due

Korea Times
02-16-2010 16:59
Inauguration of PKO for Haiti Mission Due
By Jung Sung-ki
Staff Reporter

South Korea will designate a unit for peacekeeping operations (PKO) for earthquake-stricken Haiti Wednesday, the Ministry of National Defense said Tuesday.

Defense Minister Kim Tae-young will attend the inaugural ceremony of the 240-strong contingent, the sixth PKO unit from the country, the ministry said in a news release.

About 1,400 people will attend the ceremony at a military base in Incheon. Among them will be Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan, Gen. Lee Sang-eui, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Walter Sharp, commander of the ROK-U.S. Combined Forces Command and lawmakers from the National Assembly’s Defense Committee.

The Assembly passed a motion on Jan. 9 to deploy the contingent to work with the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH). The contingent includes 120 engineers, 26 staff officers, and 41 Marines and reconstruction workers, according to the release.

Army Col. Kim Soo-seong will lead the contingent. Kim led the Dasan engineering unit in 2003 for rehabilitation missions in Afghanistan. The members of the unit will leave the country aboard a chartered airplane on Feb. 27.

A group of 30 troops left for Haiti last week to lay the groundwork for future arrivals. The forward group has worked to set up a post at the coastal city of Leogane, some 40 kilometers west of Port-au-Prince, Haiti’s capital, where the Korean troops are slated to be stationed.

Hundreds of thousands of people have been confirmed dead since the small Caribbean country was hit by a powerful 7.0-magnitude earthquake last month.

South Korea has pledged more than $16 million in aid to Haiti, and plans to share the estimated $25 million cost for its peacekeeping force with the United Nations.

In Haiti, there are 9,000 multinational troops and police enforcements, and more nations are promising to send troops, or add to the forces they have already dispatched.

gallantjung@koreatimes.co.kr