Hundreds of anti-war demonstrators gathered in Gwangju in Gyeonggi Province on Monday evening to protest the government's plan to send additional troops to Iraq.

Some 400 protestors confronted around 800 riot police as they tried to make their way into a training compound for troops waiting to be dispatched to the Gulf nation.

No arrests or injuries were reported.

The first batch of the 3000-strong Zaitun unit is scheduled to depart for the northern Kurdish-controlled region of Irbil this month in line with its promise to Washington to send more troops to Iraq.

National opposition to the troop deployment has sharply risen since South Korean hostage Kim Sun-il was killed by Islamic militants in Iraq in June.