The South Korean Occupation of Kurdistan

"GI Korea" today quotes journalist Michael Totten on the ROK Army in Iraq:

Iraqi Kurdistan is technically occupied by a foreign power, but this occupation surely ranks among one of the most absurd in human history. Dr. Ali Sindi, advisor to Prime Minister Nechervan Barzani, told me that South Korea is the official occupier of “Northern Iraq.” Korean soldiers are stationed just outside Erbil in a base near the airport. He laughed when he told me the Kurdish military, the Peshmerga (“those who face death”), surround the South Koreans to make sure they’re safe.

Click on the link to read the GI's thoughts on the subject. While I might I disagree with him about the war, I agree that the South Korean contribution to the "Coalition of the Willing" is a farce. He quotes a report that "the local police, not Korean soldiers, are maintaining public security" and that "Seoul wants to maximize the Korean troops’ stay and have minimum casualty [sic]." Suggests the GI, "The Korean government decided not to play it safe and try to appease all sides, which has made them by default irrelevant."