By Seo Dong-shin
Staff Reporter

A Kurdish top official on Thursday welcomed the deployment of South Korean troops to the northern Iraqi town of Irbil, which is also a part of southern (Iraqi) Kurdistan, and assured he would seek to guarantee their safety during the operation.

``The people in Irbil regard South Korean troops as members of the community, not just as guests,’’ Nechirvan Barzani, Prime Minister of the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) who is on a visit to Seoul since Wednesday with other top officials, said during a meeting with South Korean Defense Minister Yoon Kwang-ung.

The KRG leader also stressed that he appreciates South Korean troops performing the duty of helping the people in the region, and that Kurdish people are well aware of the importance of South Korean troop dispatch to Iraq.

``As for safety problems, the Peshmerga leaders as well as the officials in the KRG and liaison division of the South Korean military are closely cooperating with each other to secure the region,’’ Barzani said in a press conference given later in the day, adding ``We are giving first priority to the safety of South Korean soldiers and civilians, and the Peshmerga members will firmly perform their duty of protecting South Koreans staying near the Zayitun Unit camps.’’

The Peshmerga, once guerilla units organized to fight for Kurdish people against Saddam Hussein’s oppressive regime, is now regular forces of the KRG. Some of the forces were hired to guard South Koreans in Irbil against possible terrorist attacks.

Barzani, the first KRG official who expressed support for the troop dispatch decision of South Korean government, had allowed South Korean civilian workers to be stationed at the Irbil Airport in June, when they were building military quarters for the troops.

The eight-member delegation of the KRG including the Prime Minister is scheduled to stay in Korea until Aug. 14, according to a program organized by the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) in a bid to promote pro-South Korean sentiment among Iraqi officials.

saltwall@koreatimes.co.kr