Posted on 10/18/2005 2:55:11 AM PDT by HAL9000
SEOUL, Oct. 18 (Yonhap) -- A total of 14 South Korean vehicles carrying aid shipments for the Iraqi people have been seized by unidentified armed militants in Iraq since last month, the Foreign Ministry said Tuesday.But no South Korean nationals were captured or detained during the seizures, the ministry said, adding that the vehicles all belong to the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA).
"The South Korean vehicles were seized near Baghdad by some armed militants on two occasions, Sept. 19 and 21, while transporting aid materials from the Jordanian port of Aqaba to Baghdad," the ministry said in a press release.
"The incidents occurred at a location about 150 kilometers west of the Iraqi capital and about US$3.5 million worth of computers and Internet equipment bound for an Iraqi national university were aboard the vehicles," the release said.
It added that the identity of the attackers has yet to be verified.
The South Korean military said it is gathering intelligence to find which insurgent group conducted the seizure and for what purpose.
"We are collecting information through diverse channels," an official at the Joint Chiefs of Staff said, adding his office has yet to raise anti-terror alert level for the 3,200-member South Korean contingent in Iraq.
Fears of terrorist attacks on the South Korean contingent heightened after multiple suicide bombings in London killed more than 50 people.
KOICA is a Foreign Ministry-affiliated organization that provides humanitarian assistance and other support to underdeveloped and developing countries. In 2004, the agency provided 130 countries with 203 billion won ($158 million) in official development assistance.
Shortly after the incidents, the South Korean government mobilized all diplomatic channels, including KOICA's Baghdad office and the South Korean Embassy in Baghdad, to urge the Iraqi government to help gain an early release of the seized vehicles.
"Seoul's hands-on approach could rather deteriorate the situation. Thus, the government has engaged in quiet diplomacy in asking the Iraqi government for an early settlement of the seizures," a ministry official said, requesting anonymity.
"As part of efforts to prevent the recurrence of similar incidents in the future, the government will also request reinforced security measures and personnel from the Iraqi side for South Korean aid vehicles," he said.
Um. There's something wrong with this picture.
The South Korean military said it is gathering intelligence to find which insurgent group conducted the seizure and for what purpose.
Huh?
Did the South Koreans just get out of these vehicles and turn them over to the enemy? What's wrong with this picture?
ping
Sounds more like a case of Black marketitis than insurgent attack.
Computers donated by South Korea stolen in Iraq
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/SEO220432.htm
SEOUL, Oct 18 (Reuters) - Armed Iraqis stole millions of dollars worth of personal computers and Internet equipment donated by South Korea while it was being transported near Baghdad late last month, a South Korean official said on Tuesday.
The Korea International Cooperation Agency, a government-linked aid agency, supplied the equipment for use in Iraqi universities, the official from the South Korean foreign ministry said.
"We have no confirmation on the identity of the militia," the official said by telephone on condition of anonymity.
He did not say when exactly the incident happened, but said that no South Korean aid workers were abducted in the heist of equipment valued at about $3.5 million.
The aid agency and the South Korean embassy in Iraq had contacted Iraqi authorities to try and recover the equipment, he added.
South Korea has 3,200 troops in Iraq on a peacekeeping and reconstruction mission, the third-biggest contingent of foreign troops after the United States and Britain.
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