S. Koreans eager for answers from Obama

[unhappycamper]

S. Koreans eager for answers from Obama
By Ashley Rowland and Hwang Hae-rym, Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Tuesday, November 17, 2009

SEOUL — When President Barack Obama arrives Wednesday in Seoul, most of the world will be watching to see what he says about tempestuous North Korea.

But many South Koreans will be paying as much attention to what he says about a stalled trade agreement with the United States and their country’s unpopular involvement in the war in Afghanistan.

Ryu Gil-jae, a professor at Kyungnam University’s Institute for Far Eastern Studies, said most Koreans don’t want to send troops to Afghanistan and don’t believe the war is justified.

"(Obama) needs to persuade the Koreans," he said.

South Korea withdrew a force of about 200 medics and engineers from Afghanistan in 2007, after 23 South Korean missionaries there were captured by the Taliban and two were executed.


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=66136