The United States has asked South Korea to extend the stay of its troops in Iraq, South Korea’s defence minister said Thursday. “The United States has asked for the continued deployment of (South Korean troops),” Kim Jang-Soo told a parliamentary committee. 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. Full Story