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Democratic Labor Party general secretary Roh Hoe-chan said Tuesday that "The sending of 4,000 troops from Korea to Iraq might have been pushed as a threat against the anti-American tide in Korea, but this threat will not work."
Roh met with Italian Ambassador to Korea Francesco Rausi Tuesday and repeated demands for the shelving of plans to send troops to Iraq, saying, "Me mustn't send troops to a mistaken war, and even in the Uri and Grand National parties, there are many lawmakers who agree with this."
He added, "The U.S. must take its hands off Iraq by June 30, hand over its role to the UN while quietly transferring sovereignty to Iraqis."
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Camp Garry Owen at Seonyu-ri, Munsan provides cavalry support for the U.S. 2nd Infantry Division, which is to be redeployed to Iraq.
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About this, Rausi said, "We are seriously discussing the Iraq deployment within Italy... It's a time of uncertainty, and to transitionally hand over sovereignty to the Iraqis is not easy and policies to solve this are not simple."
Italy has troops in Iraq, and an Italian soldier was recently killed in a firefight with local insurgents in the southern city of Nasiriyah.
Meanwhile, Rausi said, "While I've been in Korea, it seems the South Korean government has worked hard to open up the North, but the North doesn't seem to be cooperating very much in opening up." Asked about his forecast of the coming South-North military talks, Roh said, "The talks are very significant as the military is one of the most obstinate groups in North Korea... The talks might not yield much progress, but they're significant."
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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