U.S. Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld, traveled to Arbil to visit the South Korean troops on October 10, 2004. On his way home from a visit to Paris, President Roh Moo-hyun made a surprise visit to the Zaytun Division in Arbil on December 8. Throughout 2005, South Korea's was the third largest foreign military deployment in Iraq, behind the United Kingdom. In early 2006, 1,300 troops were withdrawn following a December 2005 vote by the National Assembly (10-3 with one abstention). Another 1,200 troops were sent home in early 2007, and it was widely assumed that a complete pullout would take place by the beginning of 2008, when the deployment mandate was set to expire. However, on October 23, 2007, South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun announced that the mandate would be extended for another year, although the size of the contingent will be halved to 600. The decision to yet again renew the mandate came just several weeks away from December elections in South Korea, during which the extremely unpopular military deployment to Iraq was expected to become a significant issue. In December 2007, South Korea had 933 personnel deployed; this number had fallen to 520 by October 2008. In a regular briefing on October 29, 2008, Won Tae-jae, a spokesman at the Ministry of Defense said, "The Zaytun army unit, stationed in the city of Arbil in northern Iraq, will begin pulling out of the country in early December, handing the mission over to U.S. troops, and will complete the withdrawal by around December 20, [2008]." A farewell ceremony for the remainder of the South Korean contingent was held on December 1, 2008. Other details The main tasks of the South Korean contingent was to provide medical services and to build and repair roads, power lines, schools and other public infrastructure. The contingent included a small number of Muslim South Korean soldiers who converted to Islam just before their deployment. The Koreans suffered only one fatality: an officer who committed suicide on the South Korean base in May 2007. The only other deaths attributed to their presence have been accidents involving both South Korean and Iraqi civilians. Notes See also Multinational force in Iraq External links Zaytun Division official website(Korean) Zaytun Division (for peace and reconstruction in Iraq) Part 1 - (youtube.com) Zaytun Division (for peace and reconstruction in Iraq) Part 2 - (youtube.com) Divisions of the South Korean