Report: S. Korean hostage beheaded
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-06-23 01:04

(Continued)

S. Korea to evacuate 22 nationals

South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-Moon demands the unconditional release of a South Korea hostage in Iraq, during a news conference at his office in Seoul. [AFP]

The South Korean government said Tuesday 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, said Commerce, Industry and Energy Minister Lee Hee-beom.

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

On the tape, Kim is heard screaming in English: “Korean soldiers, please get out of here. I don’t want to die. I don’t want to die. I know that your life is important, but my life is important.”  

Kim, described as a devout Christian who is the only son among four children, studied Arabic as well as English in South Korea. His parents said he son 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. Kim Jung-sook, a sister, told the station that his family last spoke to him in April, when he said he was in the Fallujah area and planned to return to South Korea in July to attend his father’s 70th birthday.

The kidnappers claimed to be from the Monotheism and Jihad group led by Jordanian-born terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who is believed to have ties to al-Qaida.

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.

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