By Ryu Jin
Staff Reporter

Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon said on Monday the South Korean troops to be deployed in Iraq “will not be engaged in any offensive operations” even if the security situation in Iraq further deteriorates in the future.

Ban made the remark during a luncheon meeting with local and foreign journalists.

The minister reaffirmed Seoul’s commitment to the participation in the U.S.-led efforts to rebuild the war-torn Middle Eastern nation. But he stressed the Korean forces will focus on economic rehabilitation and humanitarian activities.

``I see no possibility of a change in the goal and purpose of our dispatch,’’ Ban said. ``The main purpose of our dispatch will be to speed up the rehabilitation of Iraq and that goal will not be changed at all.’’

South Korea plans to send over 3,000 troops, including combat-ready soldiers, to a certain region of Iraq for peace and reconstruction efforts there. More than 400 medics and engineers have already been operating in southern Iraq since last year.

However, the recent brief detention of South Korean nationals by Iraqi militias has rekindled hot debates in the Korean political field ahead of Thursday’s polls as voices opposing the troop deployment have risen again in civil society.

Two South Korean relief workers and eight pastors had been detained for several hours in separate cases last week but later released as they proved themselves not related to espionage missions.

jinryu@koreatimes.co.kr