Seoul and Washington have agreed to change the dispatch location of South Korean troops to Iraq from Kirkuk to a safer area in the northern central region of the country.

A Defense Ministry official said Thursday that the agreement was reached Tuesday in Baghdad between Major General Hwang Eui-don, the commander of the South Korean troops, and Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez, the top U.S. commander in Iraq. General Hwang has been heading up a visiting four-member delegation that is scheduled to return home Friday.

As a result of the development, Seoul's dispatch plan is expected to undergo significant revisions and the deployment of South Korea's Zaitun unit will likely be delayed more than a month. The 3,000-strong unit was originally slated to head to the northern region of Kirkuk from April 7.

The final agreement came after Seoul reportedly turned down a U.S. proposal to launch a clean-up operation against local insurgent forces while exercising joint U.S.-South Korean jurisdiction over Kirkuk. In rejecting the American proposal, Seoul cited the role of South Korean troops in Iraq, which is focused on peaceful efforts in rebuilding the war-torn nation.

The Defense Ministry reportedly is considering Najaf, some 160 kilometers south of Baghdad, as a strong candidate for the new troop dispatch location.