The AP reports:
South Korea brought home 195 army medics and engineers Dec. 14 from Afghanistan, ending a five-year deployment made at Washington’s request to help rebuild the war-ravaged country. South Korea had previously planned to withdraw the troops, but reconfirmed that pledge to the Taliban to win the freedom of 21 kidnapped civilians in July after the insurgents killed two hostages.
Of course, when the United States proposed redeploying some 12,000 troops from the Korean peninsula, the South Koreans threw a fit, even though more than 20,000 U.S. troops remain as a trip wire to prevent any attack from the North. But the South Korean’s wouldn’t want to break a promise made under duress to a group of terrorists that had already executed two hostages. Meanwhile, the South Korean commitment in Iraq will be reduced starting next week from nearly 1,000 troops to some 600, and even those forces may eventually be pulled out as lawmakers have yet to endorse an extension for the deployment. You have to wonder what lesson the North Koreans take away from all of this.
