S Korean minor parties opposes troop dispatch to Afghanistan

SEOUL, Dec. 21 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's four opposition parties on Monday vowed to oppose the government's plan to extend the period of troop dispatch to Afghanistan, local media reported.

Four lawmakers representing the opposition parties, including the liberal-leaning main opposition Democratic Party and left-leaning Democratic Labor Party, issued a joint statement to parliament denouncing the ruling Grand National Party's move to pass the troop redeployment bill.

"We cannot accept the troop redeployment to Afghanistan, and will do our best to stop it," the statement read, according to Yonhap News Agency.

The statement comes as the country's parliamentary Defense Committee plans to hold a meeting later Monday to discuss the government-initiated troop extension bill.

South Korea's Minister of National Defense Kim Tae-young said last week the troop deployment is in the national interest and potential damage would not automatically lead to withdrawal.

Kim also said his ministry is in close cooperation with Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade to ensure safety of South Koreans in the war-torn Central Asian country.

According to the government plan, currently awaiting parliamentary approval, the 350 troops will be stationed in Parwan Province, north of Kabul, in order to protect the South Korean Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT).

The South Korean government said the main mission of the troops will be to guard the PRT base and escort and protect the activities of civilian aid workers.

South Korea pulled out of Afghanistan in 2007 when 23 South Korean Christian missionaries were held captive by the Taliban, with two of them killed and the rest released.

Since then, Seoul has only taken the role of providing medical and vocational training by assisting the United States and only two dozen South Korean volunteers work inside the U.S. Air Force Base in Bagram, north of Kabul.

Afghanistan's rebel militant group Taliban has recently issued a threat against the planned troop dispatch, which South Korea's defense ministry last week played down by calling it "conventional."