The Korean government is looking into sending at least 10 policemen to help train the Afghan police, after informing the US that it will be difficult to resend troops to Afghanistan.  The cops will be stationed at the Afghan police academy and will not take part in any activities other than the training of Afghan cops.

Reality meets rhetoric. 

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Turkey has launched a “cross-border land offensive” — what the old folk used to call an “invasion” — into northern Iraq:

Turkey’s military said on Friday it had launched a cross-border land offensive backed by fighter jets into northern Iraq on Thursday evening to hunt down Kurdish PKK guerrillas.

Turkish television reported, without citing sources, that 10,000 troops had entered Iraqi territory. NTV said troops had moved 10 km (6 miles) inside Iraq.

“The Turkish Armed Forces, which attach great importance to Iraq’s territorial integrity and stability, will return home in the shortest time possible after its goals have been achieved,” the General Staff said in a statement posted on its Web site.

Good luck with that, guys.

The cute part, of course, was the US response:

A senior U.S. official said the land incursion was “not the greatest news”.

But hey, at least he knew what was going on:

In Baghdad, Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari said his government was not aware of any Turkish ground offensive.

That’s never a good sign.

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The Korean military is studying plans to create a specialized unit that would be responsible for carrying out rescue operation of Korean citizens held hostage overseas.

The Korea Institute for Defense Analyses (KIDA) has apparently been studying four plans since November on order from Defense Minister Kim Jang-soo.

The plan being most considered is one that would provide legal grounds to send a small operational unit overseas to rescue Korean hostages without prior consent from the National Assembly.

A military official said it began studying plans due to criticism that Korea was overly dependent on diplomatic channels in resolving the abduction of 23 Koreans by the Taleban in Afghanistan last year.

KIDA is looking at creating a permanent unit — composed of men from sources like the 707th Special Mission Unit and ROK Navy Special Warfare Brigade. The Defense Ministry is already considering plans to modernize said units’ equipment and training grounds, as well as sending them overseas for training.

KIDA is also researching ways to strengthen the government’s organizational ability to make quick and responsible decisions when Koreans are held hostage overseas.

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The four Korean crewmen who were held hostage by Somali pirates for 174 days say they were treated harshly by their captors.

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Discussing the Iraq War in a radio interview, President Roh pulled off the nearly impossible feat of making Paris Hilton look smart. (HT to Lost Nomad)

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It seems that the Korean government is not the only one pumping money into Afghanistan’s underground economy. The Germans are at it also (Speigel Online):

The German engineer who was kidnapped in Afghanistan, Rudolf Blechschmidt, has been released, but at a high price: The crisis team was forced to pay ransom money to murderers and release prisoners in exchange.

There are a couple of differences between the cases:

• Blechschmidt was being held by a straight-up criminal gang, rather than the Taliban (although they once threatened to turn him over to the Taliban and seem to like them a lot).
• The Germans plan to go after the kidnappers, who also murdered another German citizen, although they obviously aren’t going to say how to the media.

I certainly hope they get the gang soon or there will be that much more money funding various bad folks in Afghanistan.

BTW, here was a cute part:

Blechschmidt’s guards smoked hashish and told their prisoner stories about a paradise where they would lie around on tables, served by dwarves carrying jugs of fine wine. When Blechschmidt asked the Pashtun men whether the dwarves were also Muslims (because only the faithful are granted entry into paradise), they were silent. The group, Blechschmidt later reported, was “completely fanaticized.”

Personally, I would take the 72 virgins instead.

Hat tip to Korea Economic Reader email service.

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In an exclusive report, the Seoul Shinmun (Korean) reports that “radical Korean Christian groups” have secretly restarted missionary work in Afghanistan.

The paper, following a tip from some Christian official, talked with Afghan officials, Christian missionary groups and the Foreign Ministry. It learned that despite a travel ban put on Afghanistan in August, some missionary groups were continuing to send missionaries to the country.

Korea, of course, had agreed to stop missionary activity in Afghanistan during its negotiation with the Taleban to free Korean missionaries taken hostage earlier this year.

The paper talked with Seoul-area missionary groups that send missionaries to the Middle East. Some of them said it was still possible to enter Afghanistan, and that they could set up missionaries with jobs with local Afghan companies or help them get into Afghanistan after getting them visas for surrounding countries like Pakistan or Uzbekistan. One group in Gyeonggi-do told the reporter that it could get her into Afghanistan by getting her a job with an Afghan company connected to the missionary group. A check with the Foreign Ministry revealed that about three Koreans were regularly posted to the company. Another missionary group, this one in Seoul, suggested that they talk after the reporter enrolled in an educational program (for missionary work). The group said it would get her into Afghanistan next year.

A Foreign Ministry official, meanwhile, said it was investigating after getting intel that even after the government decided to withdraw all Koreans from Afghanistan, “some radical missionary groups” had restarted missionary work, this time using “Koreans with third-country nationalities.” He said there were several Koreans, including a former missionary, who were delaying their departure from Afghanistan for health or business reasons, but the ministry was watching carefully out of concern that they were actually conducting missionary work.

A Korean missionary who’d been doing volunteer work in Afghanistan until she was withdrawn last month, however, said all missionaries with Korean passports had been withdrawn from the Kandahar region, but one Korean missionary group had left behind some five or six Korean missionaries with US and German passports (just the two passports you’d want in southern Afghanistan!) to continue missionary work.

The reporter talked with a colleague at the Kabul Times, who said he could still find many Koreans in Kabul, although he didn’t know whether they were missionaries or not.

According to the Foreign Ministry, there are some 90 Koreans still in Afghanistan (with Korean government permission), including businessmen. But it’s impossible to know how many Koreans have entered Afghanistan through a third country. The Immigration Bureau said it could not know if a Korean entered Afghanistan through a third country unless the Afghan authorities alerted them so.

Not all Korean churches, or missionary groups, for that matter, are happy with this. An official from one missionary group said most Korean churches were worried the restart of missionary activities in Afghanistan by a few radical groups would give the Taleban reason to attack Koreans and drive Korean Christianity into a corner.

Marmot’s Note: In case you were unclear as to how I feel about missionaries like this, see here.

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(For folks reading the comment section, the original title of this post was Americans avenge murdered Koreans in Afghanistan.)

From the Chosun:

Mullah Abdullah Jan, the Taliban commander who led the kidnappings of 23 Korean hostages in Afghanistan, was killed in an air strike by U.S. forces…

…According to the Afghan government, at least four other Taliban leaders who were involved in the kidnappings have been killed this month, including Mullah Mateen, a commander under Abdullah.

In related news, perhaps the Korean embassy in Kabul could give this guy a job (same link): 

Meanwhile, Mehra Juddin Patan, the governor of Ghazni province who spoke for the Afghan government during the hostage crisis, was dismissed on Tuesday.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai reproached Patan for embarrassing Afghanistan by allowing the Taliban to hold a press conference after face-to-face talks to release the hostages with a Korean government representative.

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This should come as no surprise (International Herald-Tribune):

South Korea’s foreign minister dismissed allegations that North Korea was cooperating with Syria on a nuclear weapons program, a news report said Monday.

“Now, no one is talking about the suspicions regarding North Korea and Syria with a clear basis,” Yonhap news agency quoted South Korean Foreign Minister Song Min-soon as telling reporters.

What are the odds that this issue will come up at the Roh-Kim Jong-il tete-a-tete?

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There is speculation that Korea will not pull out its Zaytun unit from Irbil by December as expected but might extend the deployment albeit with fewer(around 400) troops.

Why the about face? The recent summit between Bush and Roh, according to the Korean media;

In his talks with Bush on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum, Roh said he will look for ways to help the United States as a coalition partner in Iraq, Roh’s aides said.

Roh made the remarks in response to Bush’s praise for the Korean troops’ humanitarian and reconstruction operations in the Middle Eastern country.

“I will seek ways to contribute (to the stability in Iraq) through consultations with the National Assembly as the troops’ mission expires at the end of the year under a parliamentary motion,” Roh said.

In a press conference after the summit, Baek Jong-cheon, chief presidential secretary for security affairs, confirmed that the U.S. government asked South Korea to extend the mission of its Zaytun Division in the war-torn country.

First, news reports of Bush and Roh getting into a spat regarding N. Korea, now Roh is thinking of extending the troop deployment in response to Bush’s praise?  Odd.  Roh could be trying to make up to Bush for the spat or he could be extending the deployment in hopes of getting further concessions from the Bush administration.  Or Roh could have been trying to “accomodate” Bush, make him feel at ease, before throwing the verbal monkey wrench in Sydney.  Whatever the reason, I don’t think a detachment of 400 troops who are currently in a very peaceful part of Iraq would matter that much in terms of strengthening the alliance.

Politics aside,  the real reason, may be, what else?  Money.

Kim also said potential economic benefits from an extended deployment are a factor that can have an influence on the decision whether or not to extend the troops’ deployment.

“South Korean firms are expected to join bids to earn oil concessions in the Iraqi region. That’s another factor in our decision to delay the troop pullout,” he said. “In any case, however, the top priority will be of national interest.”

Potential economic benefits are looming as the Korea National Oil Corp. signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Kurdistan regional government on oil development in January.

In July, 13 South Korean construction companies inked an MOU with the Kurdish government to build highways and hydroelectric dams worth $23.4 billion.

You don’t want your troops leaving Kurdistan, when its government is giving you all those lucrative contracts.

If the the current government decides to extend the deployment it will have to go through the leftists, including its own party members.

It is still unclear if Zaytun forces can serve in Iraq for another year because war-weary lawmakers from the pro-government political party and progressive civic groups have pledged to block an extended troop extension.

The opponents argue that projected economic gains are overblown and there is no reason to stay further in Iraq at a time when many other coalition forces are rushing to exit or draw down their military presence.

Let’s see how this thing plays out.

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