Seoul, Dec 03: South Korean President Roh Moo-Hyun pledged today to go ahead with preparations to send troops to Iraq ``without delay,'' citing the importance of maintaining a strong alliance with the united states at a time of heightened tension over North Korea's nuclear ambitions. Roh has come under pressure to alter the plans after unidentified gunmen shot and killed two South Korean workers and wounded two others on a road near Tikrit, north of Baghdad, on Sunday. He said today that it was important for South Korea to contribute troops to the US-led coalition in Iraq in order to garner US support for peacefully resolving a year-old standoff over North Korea's nuclear weapons programmes.
``There are issues that are linked to the security of the Korean peninsula, such as the North Korean nuclear issue, and we must maintain close relations with the united states,'' to peacefully resolve that issue, Roh was quoted as saying by his spokesman, Yoon Tae-Young. ``Now is the time when Washington needs cooperation the most,'' Roh said.


Roh made the comments to a group of South Korean lawmakers who recently visited Iraq for nine days last month before Parliament starts deliberating the government's plan to send up to 3,000 troops to Iraq.


Bureau Report