Good news and bad news on international support for Iraq

Good news first: Josh Marshall links to this story indicating that South Korea has agreed to dispatch significant numbers of troops to Iraq:

Deployment of the nation’s contingent of 3,000 troops to the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk will begin in April until the end of next year to help rebuild the war-devastated Middle Eastern nation, officials said on Tuesday. The Seoul government finalized the decision during a Cabinet meeting at Chong Wa Dae. The Defense Ministry plans to refer the proposal, signed by President Roh Moo-hyun, to the National Assembly, which is likely to endorse it since the major political parties have been supporting the plan…. Seoul’s fact-finding mission to Iraq earlier reported the residents in Kirkuk have been friendly to Koreans and recommended the region as the appropriate site for troop deployment. South Korea earlier decided to send some 3,000 soldiers to Iraq consisting of both combat and non-combat troops that include engineers and medics.

Bad news — the Gulf states are not planning on forgiving either Iraq’s debts or its reparation payments anytime soon, according to the Financial Times:

Iraq’s main Arab creditors will only negotiate debt relief with a sovereign government in Baghdad and not the US-appointed interim Governing Council, Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister said on Tuesday. No decision was taken regarding debt relief to Iraq at a meeting of the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) in Kuwait this week. However, Saud al-Faisal appeared to dismiss the credibility of the Governing Council as representative of Iraq and to make it clear that GCC states would not negotiate with it. “The indebtedness of the Iraqi government entails that we discuss this issue with a government that is sovereign. It’s a question of dialogue among nations, and I don’t think that an effective dialogue can take place unless there’s a sovereign Iraqi government. When that government comes, we are ready to discuss these issues,” Prince Saud said…. Kuwait’s prime minister, Sheikh Sabah al-Jaber, said this week that Iraq should not be freed from repayments, “because it is a country that can repay its debts”. Saudi Arabia is owed $25bn from loans made prior to the 1991 Gulf war. The foreign minister’s statement is being seen as a sign that a forthcoming visit by James Baker, the former US secretary of state and President George W. Bush’s special envoy charged with negotiating debt reduction for Iraq, could be marked by tough talks that are unlikely to be resolved until the restoration of Iraqi sovereignty – scheduled for June 2004.