Japan Pulls Out S

Juan Cole 11/13/2003

Japan Pulls Out; S. Korea Reduces Planned Force

The car bombing of the Italian police station at Nasiriyah has had the results the guerrillas were aiming at. Japan has now formally announced that it won’t send peacekeeping troops to Iraq. South Korea had been being pressed by the US to send 10,000 troops, including combat units. Its government now says it will send only 3,000, and has not committed to including any peace enforcers. S. Korea has a few hundred non-combat troops in Iraq now.

About the Author

Juan Cole is the founder and chief editor of Informed Comment. He is Richard P. Mitchell Professor of History at the University of Michigan He is author of, among many other books, Muhammad: Prophet of Peace amid the Clash of Empires and The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. Follow him on Twitter at @jricole or the Informed Comment Facebook Page