BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Militants beheaded a South Korean hostage in Iraq Tuesday after Seoul refused their demand to withdraw its troops from the country and cancel plans to send more, the Arabic satellite channel Al Jazeera said.
South Korea confirmed the death of hostage Kim Sun-il and said his body had been found. Foreign Ministry spokesman Shin Bong-kil told reporters the U.S. military had found the corpse and informed South Korean officials.
Jama'at al-Tawhid and Jihad, a group led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi who has been accused by Washington of links to al Qaeda, had said Kim would be beheaded if their demands were not met. In a video shown on Jazeera early Monday, the 33-year-old hostage was shown pleading for his life.
Since early April, dozens of foreign hostages have been seized in Iraq, many around Falluja. Most have been freed but at least three have been killed by their captors, including U.S. entrepreneur Nicholas Berg who was beheaded by Zarqawi's group. U.S. officials say Zarqawi himself wielded the knife.
Earlier, hopes in South Korea had risen even though the captors' initial deadline had passed, as an Iraqi mediator said the kidnappers had allowed more time for talks.
Kim, an Arabic speaker and evangelical Christian, had worked in Iraq for a year as a translator for a Korean firm supplying goods to the U.S. army.
He was seized on June 17 in Falluja, a flashpoint city in the anti-U.S. insurgency 50 km (32 miles) west of Baghdad.
A Seoul commerce ministry spokeswoman said all South Koreans working for firms in Iraq were likely to leave the country by early next month.
South Korea has 670 military medics and engineers in Iraq and plans to send another 3,000 troops.
You don't have to be religious to know what evil is...and these murderous acts are pure evil.
May Mr. Sun-il find Peace and may his family sorrow less knowing that his fear and sufferring has ended. May they be comforted knowing that the world cares for them and grieves with them for the loss they have had to endure.
I'm so sorry that anyone has to go through any of this.
I wish.....for Peace. Everywhere.
??? Al Jazeera is just reporting the news, why shouldn't they exist? They exist for the same reason CNN exist...
Anyway, a big shame for the S. Korean guy. But again, as I said in the other thread. Come on guys, get out of there!!! This is no time to be a missionary!
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I won't go political or twist this thread around with my thoughts and feelings on the whole issue.
But I will say everyone who is not military needs to get the hell out of the region and stay out until thing are really safe to be there.
Kind of like History Books and who is writing them...
It'll just create more hatred from the west against the Arab world and Islam. This fight isn't over in a decade, it's gonna get worse. I see a tendency of a rising concern among the people around me everyday - especially after the decapitations. The problem is the enemy is one man with an AK 47 or small groups of men in a worldwide network working against USA and it's allies.
That's a really tough nail to hit.
pure wicked foul deeds being done over there....
The cold war preoccupied itself with global disarmament of nukes.....bit hilarious that the true destructor of civilization will be 'small' arms.
Nothing will change while any form of lethal 'device' is still accessible to the public at large......any public at large.
No, that isn't going to happen, so we are doomed to enjoy the ride....live by the sword, die by the sword, dream of a world WITH no sword.
Now for a personal political opinion, which I try not to impress: Why don't we all get the hell out of there? We are not wanted, quite the opposite and we are dying daily. As Republican as I am and as much as I detest Kerry and his views I have to say that I have no more respect for Bush. After 9/11 I was so proud of him and now I'm just confused. Who do you vote for when neither party is appealing?????

On another note...it's absolutely ridiculous to think we're going to somehow rid the world of terrorists. The one thing this war/occupation has accomplished is create more terrorists, and at great expense in lives and money. As long as you oppress people you will have terrorists.
We should have left Iraq as soon as we found the rat in the hole.
In addition to this, and according to "The Bush Administrations Public Statements on Iraq" which was prepared for Representative Henry Waxman, there have been 237 misleading statements and lies (and counting) as to why we should be in Iraq.
It is also believed that the original document Bush used to justify his going to Iraq was forged.
Grab on to your sock...we're in for a bumpy ride!
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Fr the record, Al Jazeera is not tied with Al Queda. Quite opposite actually. While Al Queda is a bunch of islamist extremist, Al Jazeera is trying to adopt a more modern philosophy. Al Jazeera is actually banned in a nunch of country, because it is too liberal (in their position regarding women for example). Al Jazeera is not so biased. Why don't you go read a bit on Al Jazeera's site, they have a English version of their site.
They are a news station. If terrorists or any criminal sends them a tape, they look at it and air it if they judge it news worthy, and "airable". They would not air the tape of a beheading, for example, any more than CNN or Fox would. Heck, if CN got their hands on a tape from a well known serial killer, I'm sure they would air it, as long as it's "clean".
Anyway. Yes, Al Queda are a bunch of criminal arseholes. But shooting lets not shoot the messenger, and also lets try not to place every Arab or Muslim in the Al Queda basket...
first off there is a documentary hitting a few theaters this summer (film festival indepedent winner) about al jazeera, which seeks to dispell a lot of the misconceptions about the station. a reporter basically sits down in there office and watches what goes on, and interviews the people that work there. i urge everyone to check it out..
6 months ago i thought the same thing, the station was just a front for terrorist organizations.. how else could they be the only one with all this news, how could they be involved in everything that goes on, why would it be only musilim?
fact is they are simply the only ones in the position to BE THERE reporting what goes on. in an area that is noted for state controlled telivions and manipulation on speech by the governments, al jazeera is the first news agency to run into the area without a dictator over their heads and show the news as it is. they are the first organization to report on politics, religion, the role of women, and of course the war - but without state control. they are trying to get an as-is word out to people who previously havn't known of such freedom of speech. yes, i dont like the dead bodies and seemengly biased information. but i don't believe it is any different then the way CNN dramatasizes everything. they are doing a job that is HARD to do in the area. being muslum, and the largest news agency in the area, they will of course receive all of the letters and tapes from alqueda and other organizations. but don't be suprised when al queda turns on them, like they turn on every other muslum government, or organization, when the news agency makes some report they don't like.
i still have my concerns about them, but i've recently open my eyes a bit to them to say 'its not what i think it is'. lets cut them some slack
They use the religion to control them. It has been used that way for centuries, take a religion and twist its ideals to control the populace. The more igrnorant the people the more willing they are to follow that wacked out religion.
It is so sad that they kill innocent civilians the poor guy didn’t deserve to die like that. It is so sad, especially for the family. As sad and tragic as it is, I think that these killings are short term tragedies, in the long term, the whole world will benefit from a free Iraq without Saddam Hussein in power, or Zarqawi taking his place. Looking at the bigger picture, I don’t believe that roadside bombs, car bombs and beheadings can strip control from the coalition. As unfortunate as these incidents are, they are not going to make a difference in the handover of sovereignty and the training of Iraqi troops who will eventually be responsible for cleaning out their own country, our troops don’t want to stay there any longer than necessary, and no one wants to steal the oil, and even if they did, the Iraqis could only hope they get a fairer shake then they received from Saddam Hussein and Kofi Anons Oil for Palaces program. Eventually someone will finger Zarqawi, (a member of Al Qaeda), who has been in Baghdad long before the war. Of course, there was no relation or connection between Hussein and Al Qaeda.
Saddam paid “suiciders” (a word I learned from W) 10,000 dollars for each suicide bomber. He displayed his intention to support terror organizations openly, and he celebrated Sept 11th openly. Now he is gone. If US and coalition troops weren’t on the ground, Zarqawi and Al-Sadr would have strong armed their way into power, and then the whole thing would be just as bad or even worse than it was under Hussein. Zarqawi shocked us all with gruesome beheadings and vicious car bombings and the ghoulish murder of contractors in Fallujah, imagine him in charge of Iraq. Hopefully Zarqawi will end up where he belongs, under the wings of American justice which will promptly drop 500 pound bombs on his head, courtesy of a revolted nation.
What choice was there but to send troops to Iraq? Saddam Hussein had to go. Ground force has to remain it is the only thing preventing Zarqawi and other thugs from taking control of Iraq, Most Iraqis realize that if America is not successful, they will end up under Zarqawis thumb, that is why they are lining up to become soldiers and cops even though they are being attacked by car bombings. The whole thing has cost a lot but it’s not in vein. And it doesn’t matter if the Iraqis are grateful or not, this is for us as much as them.
In reality, what Americans did to liberate Europe was for us, just as it was for them. The D-Day invasion inevitably saved the US from subjugation. The ingratitude of the French or Germans is of no real consequence, they are free, and they are no threat to us. The same outcome for the Middle East would be just fine. If they are ungrateful, so be it, just so long as a free democracy emerges that is stable and no longer a threat.
As far as al jezzera is concerned, if a German version of al jezeera was operating in Germany during WWII it wouldn’t have lasted long! A German Al Jezeera would have been carpet bombed everywhere and anywhere it attempted to transmit, because it is not a news agency, it is a tool of propaganda. The propaganda campaign of Al Jezeera has harmed US-Arab relations with lies and distortions.
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