Responding to the interpellation of the defense committee of the National Assembly, Cho said the US military would provide security and accommodation for South Korean troops, which will be under the command of the US 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, reported the Seoul-based Yonhap News.

In demand of the United States, the South Korean government decided to send 673 engineering and medical personnel to participate in the reconstruction work in Iraq. A 20-member advance team has been dispatched to the Gulf area earlier April.

The engineers are going to be in charge of rebuilding the main infrastructure of the Nasiriya city while the medical personnel will provide humanitarian aid to local residents and prisoners of war as well as treat American and pro-war coalition troops, Yonhap News quoted Cho as saying.

In the wake of protest against the US-led war in Iraq and against the decision of sending troops to support the United States, the South Korean parliament delayed the voting on the government troop dispatch bill twice, but finally approved it early April.

(Xinhua News Agency April 23, 2003)