South Korea has called on Iraqi authorities to carry out a fair investigation into the death of a South Korean businessman involved in a large port construction project in the Middle Eastern country, the foreign ministry said Monday.

The senior director at Daewoo Engineering & Construction Co. was found dead Friday in the company compound located in the southern province of Basra, and Iraqi police initially concluded that he committed suicide.

But Iraq's interior ministry formed a committee to launch a fresh probe into the case after several local lawmakers and officials raised questions about the findings, according to a news report.

"The South Korean Embassy in Iraq has requested that the Iraqi authorities conduct a swift and fair investigation," a foreign ministry official in Seoul said, adding that the government will actively provide the bereaved family with necessary consular assistance.

The late businessman was in charge of the on-site supervision of the project to develop the new Fao port in Basra, one of the key infrastructure projects pushed for by the Iraqi government. (Yonhap)