SEOUL — South Korea could send up to 10,000 combat troops to Iraq, among them highly trained special forces, in what would be the largest deployment by Seoul on behalf of the United States since the Vietnam War, according to sources here.
The United States has requested help in Iraq from other Asian allies as well, among them Japan, Pakistan and India. However, it is expected that South Korea, which has one of the largest and best-trained militaries of any U.S. ally, will contribute the largest number of troops.
"The logic is very simple. The United States sacrificed for us in the Korean War. We are allies and the U.S. strongly wants help in Iraq," said a South Korean official who asked not to be quoted by name.
The official said South Korean President Roh Moo Hyun was likely to support the deployment despite his often blunt criticism of the Iraq war. "He is very much a pragmatist," the official said.
Roh on Tuesday told reporters that no decision had been made.
The request for troops in Iraq, made this month, comes at a time when South Korea can ill afford to alienate the Bush administration. Seoul and Washington are grappling with several critical issues, ranging from North Korea's nuclear arms program to a proposed redeployment of U.S. troops stationed at the demilitarized zone between the Koreas.
If the South Koreans dispatch a substantial number of troops to Iraq, it could be with the understanding that the White House will support Seoul's call for a negotiated diplomatic solution to the North Korean crisis and be somewhat more flexible in dealing with that regime, sources said.
"There won't be a quid pro quo, but an understanding," said a South Korean with close ties to the government. He said that the South Korean special forces were well trained in riot control, civil disturbances and guerrilla infiltration techniques -- in keeping with South Korea's often turbulent history -- and that they would probably relieve U.S. troops in northern Iraq between Baghdad and Mosul.
"Our special forces are better trained than the [U.S. Army's] 3rd Infantry Division. They are exactly the kind of forces that the United States wants," the South Korean said. The nation is believed to have a total force of 665,000 soldiers.
The United States is seeking a United Nations resolution on Iraq that would authorize a multinational peacekeeping force under U.S. command to relieve some of the burdens on the 130,000 American troops in Iraq.
