Before the end of this year all South Korean troops stationed in Northern Iraq are set to return home.
This will put an end to the four-year service of Korea's Zaytun unit a peacekeeping and reconstruction force in the war-torn country.
A one-year extension endorsed by the National Assembly last November expires at the end of this year and the US has not requested another one.
According to the Defense Ministry the unit will hand over its mission to the US military in early December and return to Korea by December 20th.
The Daiman air transportation unit in Kuwait will be joining them and only a handful of liaison officers will remain.
Any of the Zaitun unit's equipment that is not shipped back will be donated to Iraqi forces by early next year.
Meanwhile the US is reported to have expressed understanding of the Korean government's decision and shown willingness to support a safe withdrawal of the unit.
South Korea sent 36-hundred soldiers to Iraq in 2004 in what was then the third largest deployment following that of the United States and Britain to support multi-national humanitarian and peacekeeping opperations in the US-led war on terrorism.
Korea now has fewer than 600 troops stationed in the relatively safe Kurdish-controlled town of Arbil in northern Iraq.
Yoo Jihae, Arirang News.
OCT 29, 2008
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Friday, SEP 03, 2010, (KST) 
