South Korea to complete Iraq troop pullout by December 20

SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea will pull out the last of its troops from Iraq by December 20, its Defence Ministry said on Wednesday, ending what was once the third-largest foreign military presence in the country.

There had been some media reports that South Korea may extend its four-year deployment again as a favor to its major ally, the United States, which is re-examining its forces in Iraq after improvements in overall levels of security this year.

"The plan that's been set up so far is that the unit will hand over its mission to the U.S. military in early December and begin the pullout and by December 20, the pullout back to Korea will be complete," Defence Ministry spokesman Won Tae-jae said.

The withdrawal will be total and leave no military personnel in Iraq other than a handful of liaison officers, he said.

South Korea sent 3,600 soldiers to Iraq in 2004, in what was then the largest deployment after the United States and Britain, but has been rolling back troop levels amid public opposition to the mission.

It now has fewer than 600 troops stationed in the relatively safe northern Kurdish region of Arbil.

(Reporting by Jack Kim; Editing by Jonathan Hopfner and Valerie Lee)