National Security Advisor Ra Jong-yil said Monday South Korea has made no new decisions regarding the dispatch of additional troops to Iraq and still needs to negotiate with the United States on the issue.

Additionally, Ra told reporters that the local situation in Iraq is still unclear, as the South Korean fact-finding mission there only began its inspections Monday.

Seoul announced last month that it would send more troops to Iraq in addition to the medics and army engineers that have been operating there since the summer. However, it has not revealed how many or when the new units would be heading to the Gulf.

Washington has asked Seoul to provide a large enough force, including combatants, to undertake independent security operations in post-war Iraq.

A Seoul official had reportedly stated in recent days that the number of troops to be dispatched would not exceed 3,000, but his comments were immediately refuted by others, in an apparent reflection of the conflicting views within the government.

A second fact-finding team left for the Middle East on Friday on a 10-day inspection mission and is expected to return with a comprehensive assessment on safety, priority tasks and the local reaction to foreign forces in Iraq.

Popular opinion here is that Seoul will finalize the details before its annual security consultative meeting (SCM) with Washington in the South Korean capital later this month.