Taliban warns Seoul against troop deployment

The Taliban has warned Seoul against sending troops to Afghanistan, claiming that the South Korean government had promised not to deploy soldiers to the country.

South Korea had around 200 soldiers in Afghanistan until late 2007. The Southeast Asian country pulled out its troops after Taliban kidnapped 21 Korean missionaries in 2007.

In a statement sent to the media on Wednesday, Taliban said the South Korean government had promised to withdraw its forces from Afghanistan and had said that it "would never try to send forces again in the future," in return for the release of 19 hostages.

"If they send their forces to Afghanistan and break their promise, then they should also be prepared for bad consequences," the statement said, adding that the Taliban "will never resort to a soft approach anymore."

South Korea announced Tuesday it will send 350 troops to Afghanistan to protect South Korean civilian engineers working in the war-battered country.

The South Korean contingent will be based in the Parwan province just north of Kabul for 30 months from 1 of July next year, the South Korean Defense Ministry said.

A cabinet meeting Tuesday approved the deployment and the defense ministry plans to send a motion this week to parliament for likely approval.