By Ryu Jin
Staff Reporter

Seoul will send a discussion team to the Kurdish-controlled northern Iraqi town of Irbil next week to make final arrangements for the deployment of 3,600 troops there, Foreign Affairs and Trade Minister Ban Ki-moon said on Friday.

``It will take one month or two before the actual troop dispatch, considering the time needed to establish base camps and other infrastructure,’’ Ban said. He was responding to reporters’ question after giving a speech during a breakfast meeting with the Korean-American Association at a Seoul hotel.

The deployment of South Korean rehabilitation forces, originally set for late April, has been dragging on amid a worsening security situation in Iraq and mounting anti-war sentiment at home.

Washington informed Seoul on Monday of its plan to relocate about 3,600 soldiers of its 37,000-strong U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) to Iraq.

Ban stressed in his lecture, titled ``For a Comprehensive and Dynamic ROK-U.S. Relationship,’’ that President Roh Moo-hyun’s remarks Thursday describing a ``cooperative self-defense system’’ following the withdrawal were not necessarily related to the U.S. global defense posture review (GPR) program.

``The Korean government has been aware of the ongoing developments in the GPR program and, keeping this in mind, has prepared for possible adjustments,’’ Ban said. ``What President Roh meant was that Seoul should pursue a more independent defense on the basis of a strong ROK-U.S. alliance, not an exclusive one ignoring the alliance.’’

On hand at the morning meeting were U.S. Ambassador to Seoul Thomas Hubbard and his deputy Mark Minton, among others.

jinryu@koreatimes.co.kr