S. Korea considers U.S. MRAPs

SEOUL, Dec. 15 (UPI) -- South Korea is in talks with the United States for plans to rent or buy 10 mine-resistant, ambush-protected vehicles.

"A final decision will be made as late as next month," Lt. Gen. Jang Kwang-il, the deputy minister for policy, told reporters at a news conference.

The announcement was made as South Korea vowed to press ahead with plans to redeploy combat forces in Afghanistan despite a Taliban threat of retaliation.

A longtime U.S. ally, South Korea has pledged a 320-strong redeployment in support of the upcoming 30,000-troop U.S. surge.

The troops will be stationed in the mountainous region of Parwan, 35 miles north of Kabul, to protect South Korean civilian aid workers and where the main U.S. base is located.

The Taliban issued a warning last Wednesday, saying that South Korea's move was in breach of a promise by South Korea's leaders in 2007 to withdraw from Afghanistan in exchange for the release of 21 hostages.

Local media reported senior military and political leaders have rebuffed making such promises.

Twenty-three South Korean Christian volunteers were taken hostage by the Taliban in 2007 while traveling on a bus in Ghazni province. Two of the hostages were killed, and the Taliban threatened to kill more in demand of a full pullout of South Korean forces in the region.

The hostages were freed 43 days later after South Korea complied with the demand, recalling 200 troops stationed in Afghanistan back to base.

The Asian country has had no troops there since 2007.

"We were expecting such a threat from the Taliban," Defense Ministry spokesman Won Tae-jae said of Wednesday's threat. "The military is fully bracing for the deployment."

Military experts claim that the U.S. deployment of MRAPs to Afghanistan has helped lower its troop fatalities significantly in recent years.

The deputy minister for policy said the country's military would deploy the South Korean army's Barracuda four-wheel-drive armored vehicles or K21 armored infantry fighting vehicles if the MRAP deal fell through with the United States.

With its V-shaped hulls, the MRAP is capable of deflecting away any explosive forces originating below the vehicle and its passenger compartment.

The K21 has a 750-horsepower turbo-diesel engine and 40mm automatic cannon capable of shooting down slow-moving helicopters and aircraft, defense experts explain.

Equipped with digital communication, GPS receivers and inter-vehicle digital links, the vehicle can travel as fast as 70 kilometers per hour on paved roads and stream through rivers at a speed of 7.8 kilometers per hour with the help of its water-jet propulsion system.