President Roh Moo-hyun has sent a message of encouragement and appreciation to South Korean soldiers deployed in Iraq on the occasion of the Lunar New Year's holiday.

In the message read by Kim Hee-sang, senior presidential secretary for defense affairs, Roh expressed his appreciation for the efforts of soldiers of the Seohui and Jema units who are spending the Lunar New Year's holiday on foreign soil.

Kim flew into the southern Iraqi city of Nasiriya Wednesday to deliver Roh's message to the hundreds of South Korean military medics and engineers who have been deployed in Iraq since last summer to help with rehabilitation works in the war-torn Gulf nation.