SEOUL, April 2 (UPI) -- South Korea will send troops to the Kurdish region of northern Iraq as suggested by the United States, officials said Friday.
South Korea and the United States have agreed to choose between Sulaimaniyah and Irbil, both in northern Iraq, for the deployment of 3,600 South Korean troops, said Nam Dae-yeon, the spokesman at the Defense Ministry.
The two sides "decided to select the final deployment site through close consultations as soon as possible after the South conducts on-the-spot checks" on the two regions, Nam told a press conference.
South Korea plans to send a fact-finding team to Iraq next week before making a final decision on location, defense sources said, adding the dispatch will take place in mid-June.
The agreement came two weeks after South Korea canceled its plan to send troops to the Iraqi hotspot of Kirkuk, citing security concerns about attacks by Islamic extremists.
