By Ryu Jin
Staff Reporter

South Korea will stand by its commitment to send additional troops to Iraq despite calls for reconsideration from some newly elected lawmakers, Foreign Affairs and Trade Minister Ban Ki-moon said on Wednesday.

``The troop dispatch motion was approved by the National Assembly with support from a large number of lawmakers,’’ Ban said told a press briefing. ``The government will follow up on it and send troops as planned.’’

On top of the 600 medics and engineers already there, the Korean government plans to send some 3,000 soldiers more to the war-battered country to help the peace and reconstruction efforts led by the United States.

The additional contingent of forces were originally meant to be deployed in the northern town of Kirkuk by late April, but the plan was delayed due to the worsening security situation there. Korea wants its soldiers ``not to be engaged in any offensive operations.’’

The government will hold a National Security Council session on Thursday to decide on the new dispatch site between Irbil and Sulaimaniya, the two Kurdish-controlled towns suggested by the U.S.

According to sources, the government has tentatively chosen Irbil as the site for deployment.

``We received the okay (from Irbil) to use its airport. But we are waiting for an official document from the provincial government,’’ he said.

Anti-troop dispatch voices gained further ground with the election of a large number of progressive lawmakers in the April 15 general elections. The Democratic Labor Party, in particular, pledged to push for a motion in the incoming Assembly that would scrap the plan.

Minister Ban said he would ``try to persuade’’ the lawmakers opposed to the dispatch.

In the meantime, seven media-related organizations and unions, including the National Union of Media Workers, issued a joint statement opposing to the troop deployment.

jinryu@koreatimes.co.kr