An additional contingent of South Korean military engineers and medics has departed for the southern Iraqi region of Nasiriyah to replace non-combat troops currently stationed there.

Those troops, comprising some 330 engineers and medics of the Seohee and Jaema units, are the second batch of a 660-troop deployment of the two units, focusing on reconstruction and humanitarian efforts in the war-torn Gulf country. The first batch of 330 troops arrived in Nasiriyah last Thursday.

Earlier on Tuesday, the government announced that it has tentatively decided on the northern Kurdish city of Irbil as the deployment site for additional troops, including combat-ready forces, to be sent to Iraq in June. Once the dispatch site is finalized, the Seohee and Jaema units will move to Irbil to make preparations for the arrival of the 3000-strong Zaitun unit.

South Korean military engineers and medics have been serving in Iraq on a strictly humanitarian mission since last April.