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Korea will increase the number of troops for UN peacekeeping operations in trouble spots like East Timor by 400-500 and drastically reduce the time until they are ready for deployment from the three or four months it takes now, the Defense Ministry said Wednesday.
Announcing its policy goals for the year, the ministry said it will set up units on permanent standby for deployment at the request of the UN, and decided to take a more proactive role in the UN Stand-by Arrangements System (UNSAS) that determines the size of detachments based on the type of conflict in trouble spots.
It also hopes to set up a center coordinating all the government¡¯s peacekeeping operations. The announcements came in a report on plans and policies for 2006 presented to President Roh Moo-hyun.
Under the plans, the 1,000-man reduction of Korean troops in Iraq will take place in five stages starting at the end of April. The ministry also aims to start work in the middle of this year on increasing Korea¡¯s independent intelligence gathering and processing capacity. Defense Minister Yoon Kwang-ung said the Korean military took over responsibility for blocking naval intrusions by North Korean special forces in January as part of a transfer of 10 duties from the U.S. Forces Korea. So far South Korea has taken over seven duties, with the rest due mid-year.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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