S. Korea outlines Iraq dispatch
SEOUL, South Korea (CNN) -- South Korea will begin deploying more than 3,600 troops to the Erbil region of northern Iraq in August.
The South Korean defense ministry said Friday the forces will be on a relief and rehabilitation mission in the Kurdish autonomous region.
The deployment will make South Korea the third-largest contributor to coalition forces in Iraq, after the United States and Britain.
The U.S. has nearly 140,000 troops there, and Britain announced recently it will increase its forces by 270 to around 9,200.
South Korea's move came as Japan's Cabinet on Friday approved a plan for more than 500 Japanese troops to remain in Iraq as part of a multinational force after an interim government takes control next month. (Full story)
"Our troop dispatch to Iraq is to assist the quick establishment of peace and reconstruction of Iraq, to develop the South Korea-U.S. alliance, and for our national interest, and to contribute to peace and stability in the world," Nam Dai-yeon, a Defense Ministry spokesman, said Friday.
A 900-member advance team will be sent to Erbil in early August and the main contingent will arrive later in smaller groups, the ministry said.
Most of the 660 South Korean Army engineers and medics now in Nasiriya, in southern Iraq, will be transferred to the north.
The South Korea deployment will consist of signal, engineering, medical, and chemical troops, military police, and marines.
"The command post made up of the first division will be stationed in Rashkin, 1.5 kilometers south of Erbil Airport, where the troops will assist in Iraqi reconstruction of urban areas," the government statement said.
"A brigade will be dispatched in Swarashi, 30 kilometers from the same airport, to help in rebuilding nearby rural areas."
Three stages
 |  Many South Koreans have been against the deployment. |
The full deployment would be staggered over three stages, the ministry said.
"The main party will arrive between late August and early September and the rest will arrive after the main party has settled down," the ministry spokesman said.
South Korea's Parliament approved the deployment in February but the dispatch has been delayed due to ongoing violence in Iraq and South Korean public opposition to the move.
The U.S. government on Friday expressed appreciation for South Korea's commitment to send more troops to Iraq, with the U.S. State Department calling it a "significant contribution."
The U.N. Security Council earlier this month adopted a resolution allowing a multinational force to remain in Iraq until 2006 to provide security after the transfer of power from the U.S.-led coalition to an Iraqi interim government on June 30.
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Associated Press contributed to this report.
