The government has forecast that the 3,000-strong South Korean Zaitun unit will be deployed to northern parts of Iraq in June.

A Defense Ministry official said Friday that the U.S. had notified Seoul Thursday that it hopes South Korean troops will set up shop in either Arbil or Sulaimaniyya, which are located in northern Kurdish regions.

The official said the government will soon choose the dispatch venue between the two candidate regions.

The official added that the ministry plans to send fact-finding missions to the two regions within this week to check the local political situation and public opinion on the dispatch of South Korean troops.

The official said if a final deployment location is selected by the end of this month, the Zaitun unit would leave for the war-torn nation in mid-June at the latest.