A team of 12 government officials and civilian experts departed for Iraq Wednesday on a fact-finding mission aimed at helping the government decide whether to send additional troops to that war-torn country.

The inspection team is composed of six defense ministry officials, three foreign ministry officials, one from the National Security Council, and two civilian experts on international relations and defense and security affairs.

Chief inspector Kang Dae-yeong, a senior official from the Defense Ministry, said the 10-day mission will focus on probing the security and safety situations in postwar Iraq and neighboring countries.

Before boarding the plane, Kang said the team will glean Iraqi plans for restoration and their public opinion about foreign troops coming to help in peace-keeping operations.

He also said the probe results will be used as basic data in the government's decision on the troop dispatch, and spoke of the need to send more inspection teams to Iraq for a more precise assessment of the situation.