South Korea's defence minister said Wednesday the government would decide this week whether to extend the stay of its troops in Iraq.
Kim Jang-Soo said that a timetable on the mission of 1,200 South Korean troops stationed in Iraq would be submitted to the National Assembly by Friday.
"Consultations among related government offices are almost done. So we will decide it by the day after tomorrow," Kim told a parliamentary committee, according to Yonhap news agency.
But presidential spokesman Cheon Ho-Seon later denied having made any decision on the politically sensitive issue.
"Nothing has been decided yet," Cheon told a regular briefing.
"We are seriously agonising between the plan to withdraw troops by this year's end and the significance of the US-South Korean alliance to settling pending issues over the Korean peninsula."
South Korea's military involvement is scheduled to end at the end of this year, unless parliament approves an extension.
The United States has asked South Korea to extend the stay of its troops, but many South Korean legislators have expressed reservations over a second extension.
South Korea in 2004 sent about 3,500 troops to Iraq, the third-largest foreign contingent after the United States and Britain.
The size of the force has been progressively cut amid domestic opposition to the deployment.
