The Hindu : International : U.S. soldiers find hostage's body

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Jun 23, 2004

International

International

U.S. soldiers find hostage's body

CAIRO, JUNE 22. An Iraqi militant group has beheaded its South Korean hostage, a week after it kidnapped him. The pan-Arab satellite channel, Al-Jazeera, broadcast a video tape tonight in which the kidnappers said they had killed Kim Sun-Il.

The South Korean Foreign Ministry confirmed he had been killed and American soldiers had found his body.

Kim, 33, who worked for a South Korean company supplying the U.S. military in Iraq, was abducted last week.

In a video-tape broadcast on Al-Jazeera, Kim was shown kneeling on the ground in front of three masked militants.

His shoulders were heaving, his mouth open as if he were gulping air and sobbing. He wore a bright orange jump suit and matching blindfold.

One of the masked kidnappers read a statement addressed to the Korean people, saying: ``This is what your hands have committed. Your Army has not come here for the sake of Iraqis, but for cursed America.''

A staffer in the channel's newsroom, Ali Al-Ka'bi, said the tape did not contain pictures showing he had been executed, but that was the message of the masked militant's statement.

South Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman, Shin Bong-Kil said Kim's body was found by the U.S. military between Baghdad and Fallujah, west of the capital, at 5:20 p.m. (4.50 p.m. IST).

The South Korean Embassy in Bagdad confirmed the body was that of Kim.

— AP

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