Yonhap News reported that Gwan-jin Kim, former Minister Defense for the Republic of Korea and current Minister of National Security for the Blue House visited Washington D.C. for a conference with William Joseph Burns, the U.S. Deputy Secretary of State. In a press conference that was held right after the meeting, the minister announced that Korea will be providing humanitarian aid during the conflict against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS).
It is reported that Minister Kim made this trip to Washington by request of the U.S. government which is currently seeking to cooperate with as many of its allies as possible, and the minister noted that South Korea and the U.S. still maintain "a very healthy alliance".
It is uncertain whether Korea is willing to provide military aid for the U.S. or the Kurdistan forces. Minister Kim told reporters after the conference that as of now there is no specific plan for Korean military intervention in the Middle East, but many experts expressed that the minister does not leave out the possibility of Korea dispatching military personnel to Iraq, even just for humanitarian purposes.
The conflict against the Islamic State is not the only thing Minister Gwan-jin Kim and Secretary Burns discussed. Kim told reporters, "The U.S. government requested that Korea play a role in the destruction of ISIS and prevention of further spread of the Ebola Virus in Africa." They did not go too deep into the problem of North Korea's human rights violations or possession of nuclear weapons, the minister telling reporters that such matters "will be discussed at the U.N. General Assembly."
Korea and the United States have been maintaining an alliance ever since the end of the Korean War in 1953. 16 countries fought for Korea in the war, and since President Choonh-hee Park came to office, Korea has worked to provide humanitarian and military aid whenever it could, starting with the Vietnam War in 1965, the Gulf War. Even now Korea has navy combatting Somali pirates and military providing humanitarian aid for the Philippines after their worst typhoon in history.
