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(Yonhap Interview) Iraqi defense chief calls for expanded military cooperation with S. Korea
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| 2009-01-15 01:41 연합뉴스 |
| (Yonhap Interview) Iraqi defense chief calls for expanded military cooperation with S. Korea |
(Yonhap Interview) Iraqi defense head-arms cooperation
By Sam Kim
SEOUL, Jan. 15 (Yonhap) -- The visiting Iraqi defense chief expressed hope Wednesday that South Korea can help his troubled country rebuild its military forces through cooperation in arms and training equipment.
"We know South Korea has outstanding capabilities in the defense industry," Iraqi Defense Minister Abdul-Qader al-Obeidi said in an interview with Yonhap News Agency in Seoul.
Al-Obeidi said he has inspected a variety of weapons platforms, including supersonic trainer jets, during his five-day visit that began on Sunday. He said a defense expert in his entourage recently test-flew a Korean-made T-50 jet here and expressed satisfaction.
"The T-50 proved to us that South Korea has modern technology of an international standard," he said in Arabic, translated by Yonhap News Agency.
"But we still need to review more" whether Iraq wants to introduce South Korea's first indigenous trainer aircraft to help expand its nascent air force, al-Obeidi said.
The visit by the top Iraqi defense official came just a month after South Korea completed its four-year military presence in the Middle East country.
South Korea sent a 3,600-strong contingent to the northern Iraqi city of Irbil in September 2004 as part of the U.S.-led forces, and a total of 18,000 South Korean troops served in rotation, building schools and other public facilities and offering medical services.
Al-Obeidi praised the troops, describing them as polite and helpful in improving regional security. He said the deployment has offered both nations a valuable opportunity to move on to other areas of cooperation.
"The South Korean troops risked both their lives and financial losses," al-Obeidi said. "We hope such efforts can lead to mutual benefits for both countries in the future."
Al-Obeidi said South Korea could play a supporting role in his country's efforts to combat piracy in the Gulf of Aden. Concerns have risen in the region that the planned pullout of U.S. forces would lead to a surge in piracy and threaten oil transports.
In an effort to expand its peacekeeping operations and its global military presence, South Korea has also been pushing to send a fleet of warships to nearby Somali waters, where piracy has emerged as a grave concern to the international community.
Al-Obeidi expressed hope that such military cooperation can be backed by economic ties, and promised that his army will provide sufficient protection from insurgency for foreign companies willing to invest there.
Iraq fields 254,000 military troops, and about 146,000 U.S. soldiers are in the country after the invasion in 2003. The U.S. recently reached a security pact with Iraq, promising to withdraw its troops entirely by 2012.
samkim@yna.co.kr
(END)
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