The South Korean Army on Thursday held a send-off ceremony for another batch of the contingent to be deployed to South Sudan to help the newly independent African nation's rebuilding efforts, officials said.

The 270-member Korean contingent, consisting mostly of engineers and medics, will be dispatched earlier next month to serve the United Nations Missions in South Sudan.

In accordance with parliamentary approval in September 2012, the contingent named the "Hanbit" unit was created in January 2013.

So far, three batches of Korean troops have been dispatched to civil war-hit South Sudan under the wing of the United Nations Mission in the new nation.

The unit has been stationed in the town of Bor, some 170 kilometers north of the capital Juba.

Nhial Majak, a South Sudanese city mayor, sent a thank-you note last month to South Korean President Park Geun-hye for Korean troops' reconstruction efforts in the war-torn African region.

South Sudan declared its independence in July 2011 from its Arab-dominated northern neighbor of Sudan after decades of civil war that claimed about 2 million lives. Tensions between the two Sudans still remain over border security and oil production. (Yonhap)