He made no attempt to justify the US-led military campaign in his address to the National Assembly, instead expressing understanding of widespread opposition to war among compatriots.

But he appealed to the self-interest of South Koreans seeking a peaceful resolution to the nuclear standoff that has damaged the economy and raised tension throughout the region.

"For a peaceful solution to the North Korea nuclear issue, solid South Korea-US cooperation is very important," the president said in a speech seeking National Assembly support for sending 700 non-combatants to Iraq.

He said it was more important to strengthen South Korea-US relations than to "stand on principle and incur friction in bilateral ties."

Roh's support for the US-led war has sparked friction with communist North Korea and triggered the biggest domestic challenge to his administration since he took office in February.

The president came out in support of the war on Iraq on March 20, the day hostilities began, saying at the time war was "inevitable to eradicate weapons of mass destruction."

As Roh spoke, thousands of people protested outside the National Assembly in the latest of daily rallies across the country reflecting deep-seated opposition to the US-led war. Angry scuffles broke out with riot police as protestors stormed the gates of the National Assembly complex.

A majority of lawmakers support Roh, but they have twice put off voting on the troop dispatch motion, fearing a backlash from the public. They were expected to put the motion to a vote later Wednesday or on Thursday.

Critics of the 56-year-old reformist president, many in his own party, say that supporting the war on Iraq implies backing for the US policy of preemptive military action, which Washington could invoke to launch an attack on North Korea.

Roh countered that the surest guarantee of peace on the Korean peninsula was solid ties with the United States under a 50-year-old alliance that has come under strain in recent months from anti-Americanism, and differences over how to handle North Korea.

Washington has said it is seeking a peaceful solution to the crisis triggered nearly six months ago but has not ruled out the military option.

Roh opposes military action or even the imposition of sanctions against North Korea, which maintains that it will be the next target of a US attack once the Iraqi war is over. Washington would soften its stand in return for South Korean support on Iraq, he indicated.

"As you have seen in the Iraqi situation, the United States will not make its decision on the North Korean nuclear issue in line with principles," Roh said.

But as long as South Korea opposed an attack on the North, "there will be no war on the Korean peninsula," he added

At one point, Roh seemed to side with South Korean opponents of the war who say the US action has no moral basis.

"Many lawmakers and people are opposed to the dispatch of troops. The main reason is that this war had no grounds," Roh said. "This is a logic based on both principles and reality. But regretfully, international politics are swayed by the power of reality, not by principles."

Opinion polls show some 80 percent of South Koreans oppose the war while North Korea has condemned Roh's planned troop dispatch as a "criminal act."

Communist North Korea fought against the United States and South Korea during the 1950-53 Korean War and hostilities have technically never ended.

The war finished with an armistice, rather than a peace treaty, and US and South Korean troops are separated from North Korea's 1.1 million-strong army by the world's most heavily fortified frontier.

SPACE.WIRE