The Foreign Ministry says it is considering a plan to set up guidelines detailing the scope of responsibilities of both the government and individual citizens for the protection of Koreans residing overseas.

In announcing the plan Sunday, Deputy Foreign Minister Choi Young-jin said there is a need for such regulations since there is a limit about what the government can do in protecting Korean nationals residing or traveling in a dangerous country.

Choi said Sunday that in the case of Iraq, which is in a quasi-state of war, his ministry should have notified South Korean residents in the Gulf state to voluntarily decide whether to evacuate or stay in the region.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Shin Bong-kil said his ministry had strongly urged all South Korean residents to evacuate Iraq, citing the increasing number of terrorist attacks in the war-devastated nation ahead of the June 30th handover of sovereignty.

According to Shin, there are currently 51 South Koreans, including 25 business people, in postwar Iraq.