South Korea announced Saturday it will send more troops to Iraq at the request of the United States, and pledged US$200 million to help reconstruction in Iraq in the next four years, according to a presidential office spokesman.

Yoon Tai-young, chief spokesman of the Blue House, announced Saturday that the South Korean government decided in principal to send more troops to Iraq besides the non-combat troops who are now working there.

The decision was made at the National Security Council meeting earlier on Saturday which was presided over by President Roh Moo-hyun, said Yoon.

But the spokesman did not elaborate on the nature of the forces, as to whether they are combat or non-combat troops, only saying that South Korea will make "an independent decision" on the nature, amount of soldiers, the timing of dispatch and the location of deployment, although the US request will be taken into consideration.

The United States in September asked South Korea to send "Polish type" combat troops to Iraq. Poland now has some 2,500 soldiers stationed in that country.

Seoul sent 675-member engineers and medical personnel in April and May to Iraq, also at the request of Washington.

The spokesman also said the government will donate US$200 million from 2004 to 2007 to help the restoration in the Middle East country.

The Roh government has spent US$10 million from this year's reserve account for aid to Iraq. And in a supplementary budget plan to be passed by the National Assembly later, an additional US$50 million was designated to Iraq.

The South Korean government made these decisions before Roh attends the Asian-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting to be held in Bangkok, Thailand, and holds a summit meeting with US President George W. Bush.

Dispatching combat troops is a sensitive issue in South Korea. When the parliament endorsed the plan to send non-combat troops to Iraq in April, South Korean people held a series of large demonstrations protesting against the move.

(Xinhua News Agency October 18, 2003)