By Ryu Jin
Staff Reporter

South Korea will stand by its promise to send additional troops to help rebuild Iraq, Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon said Wednesday.

``There is no change at all in the principle of our troop dispatch,’’ Ban said during his weekly press briefing.

Ban’s expression of commitment to dispatching troops came after two South Koreans were freed after 14 hours of captivity by Shiite militiamen in the southern Iraqi city of Nasiriyah, where about 400 South Korean medics and Army engineers are stationed.

The two _ 33-year-old relief worker and a company employee _ were not hurt when they were released on Tuesday, South Korean officials said.

The incident came amid a deteriorating security situation in Iraq as battles between U.S. forces and militia fighters loyal to Iraqi Shiite cleric Moktada al-Sadr intensified.

Shiite Muslims form the majority in Iraq.

South Korea plans to send an additional 3,600 troops to Iraq to help in post-war reconstruction efforts.

The troop dispatch plan has brought concerns that South Korea may become a target of terrorist attacks like Spain, where a series of train bombings killed nearly 200 people last month.

Late last year, two South Koreans were killed and two others injured in a roadside ambush by Iraqi insurgents.

jinryu@koreatimes.co.kr