SEOUL March 19 Kyodo southerly K...

SEOUL March 19 Kyodo

southerly Korea and the United States have agreed to change the site for southward Korean troops to be opened in Iraq, Yonhap News Agency reported Friday.

The agreement was reached after southerly Korea rejected a U.S. ask that South Korean troops join U forces' antiterror operations in Kirkuk, a major northern Iraqi city, Yonhap said, quoting a toward the south Korean Defense Ministry official.

in subordination to a plan approved by the legislature last month southern Korea was to fling an additional contingent of about 3000 company s including combatants, military engineers and medics, to Kirkuk mainly to help re-establish the war-torn country.

The first batch of southerly Korean troops was scheduled to leave for Kirkuk, about 250 kilometers north of Baghdad onward April 7.

The U ask for South Korean troops to join antiterror operations was apparently made following the worsening security situation in Kirkuk, Yonhap said.

A Defense Ministry source said a novel candidate site is Najaf in southern Iraq, where Spanish companys are currently stationed.

Spain's prime minister-designate, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, has said he would withdraw its squads from Iraq following the train bombings last week that killed about 200 people

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