The South Korean government tentatively chose Irbil, in the Kurdish autonomous region in northern Iraq, as the deployment location for its additional 3,000troops, the Chosun Daily said on Friday.

The local influential paper quoted an unidentified high-level Seoul government official as saying that South Korea has tentatively decided that of the two candidate sites -- Sulaimaniyah and Irbil --the latter one is better suited for the deployment in terms of is security situation, basing considerations, logistics and reconstruction demands.

The official said the government made the decision after takinginto consideration both the finding from a recent fact finding team sent to Iraq and US requests.

The official said that during a National Security Council (NSC)meeting -- attended by foreign, unification and defense ministers -- held Wednesday afternoon, Irbil was selected as the deployment region.

A source said the government had initially considered Sulaimaniyah the stronger candidate, but the fact-finding mission revealed that Irbil had good airports and roads that would make logistics easier.

Moreover, there was more demand for reconstruction work in Irbil, so the government slid in that direction. The US military, too, is said to have hoped the Koreans would deploy in Irbil.

However, South Korean Defense Ministry released a statement on Friday, rejecting the report. "What the report says is not true, and final decision will be made in next time's NSC meeting," said the statement.

South Korea originally wanted to deploy its large troops in Kirkuk, but after the United States demanded joint military presence in the oil-rich city of Iraq, Seoul decided to change thedeployment location.

Seoul worried that if its troops stayed together with troops ofthe US, it is highly possible that Iraqi insurgents launch attacksto South Korean troops.

Source: Xinhua