South Korean Hostage Beheaded

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5256382/

Terrible.

S. Korean hostage executed
Seoul says it will evacuate all its civilians in Iraq by July

The Associated Press
Updated: 2:04 p.m. ET June 22, 2004BAGHDAD, Iraq - An Iraqi militant group has executed its South Korean hostage, just hours after a go-between said Tuesday that the execution had been delayed and there were negotiations for the man’s release.

Kim Sun-il’s body was found by the U.S. military between Baghdad and Fallujah, 22 miles west of the capital, at 5:20 p.m. Iraq time, said South Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman Shin Bong-kil.

“It breaks our heart that we have to announce this unfortunate news,” Shin said.

Kim, 33, worked for Gana General Trading Co., a South Korean company supplying the U.S. military in Iraq. He was abducted last week, according to the South Korean government.

The Arabic satellite TV channel Al-Jazeera earlier Tuesday aired a videotape of Kim, apparently made shortly before his death, that showed him kneeling, blindfolded and wearing an orange jumpsuit similar to those issued to prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Statement read on new video
Five hooded men stood behind Kim, one reading a statement and gesturing with his right hand. Another captor had a big knife slipped in his belt.

MSNBC military analyst Wayne Downing says he expects these types of executions will increase.
One of the masked men said the message was intended for the Korean people. “This is what your hands have committed. Your army has not come here for the sake of Iraqis, but for cursed America.”

The video as broadcast did not show Kim being executed.

Al-Jazeera said the video claimed the execution was carried out by the al-Qaida-linked group calling itself Monotheism and Jihad.

News of the apparent beheading reached the White House in the midst of a briefing by spokesman Scott McClellan.

“There simply is no justification for those kinds of atrocities that the terrorists carry out," McClellan said. "We’ve seen some of the barbaric nature of the terrorists recently when it comes to an American citizen that was killed in Saudi Arabia and it is a reminder of the true nature of the terrorist.”

Al-Jazeera did not say when Kim was killed.

Kim’s kidnappers had initially threatened to kill him at sundown Monday unless South Korea canceled a troop deployment to Iraq. The Seoul government rejected the demand, standing firm with plans to dispatch 3,000 soldiers starting in August.

NKTS, a South Korean security firm doing business in Iraq, told the AP in Baghdad earlier Tuesday that Kim was still alive and that negotiations for his release continued, with the company president expected to arrive in Baghdad from Seoul by Wednesday.

South Korea convened its National Security Council at 2 a.m. to discuss the government’s reaction, Shin said.

S. Korea to evacuate 22 nationals
South Korea earlier Tuesday said it will evacuate the last of its 22 nationals in Iraq by early next month. Most work for South Korean companies that supply the U.S. military.

Kim, who worked for a trading company in Baghdad, was believed to have been kidnapped about 10 days ago. A videotape broadcast Sunday by Al-Jazeera showed him pleading for his life.

Kim, described as a devout Christian, studied Arabic as well as English in South Korea. His parents said he went to Iraq because he dreamed of becoming a missionary in the Arab world, Chosun Ilbo reported.

A South Korean television news station, YTN, said Kim had been in Iraq for about eight months.

The recent abductions and attacks appear aimed at undermining the interim Iraqi government set to take power June 30, when the U.S.-led occupation formally ends. U.S. and Iraqi officials have vowed to go ahead with the transfer.

Coalition spokesman Dan Senor said that by week’s end, all Iraqi government ministries would be under full Iraqi control.

South Korea warned its citizens not to travel to Iraq, saying the decision to send troops might prompt terrorist attacks on South Koreans.