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| Korean Gov’t Stands Firm As Another Hostage Threatened With Death | ||
| 2004-06-21 | ||
Kim Son-il, reportedly a translator employed by a trading firm, was kidnapped last Thursday near Fallujah. He appeared crying and pleading for his life, flanked by masked gunmen, in a video clip screened on the Arabic al-Jazeera television channel Sunday. The terrorists identified themselves as members of a group led by al-Qaeda leader Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi, whom the U.S. holds responsible for numerous suicide attacks in Iraq since the fall of Baghdad. It was not clear exactly when the 24-hour ultimatum was due to expire. On Monday, South Korean vice foreign minister Choi Young Jin told a news conference the government would send the troops to Iraq as planned, but would also do all it could to secure the Korean hostage’s freedom. A spokesman for President Roh Moo-hyun quoted him as calling the kidnapping a "very sad" incident, and stressing that Korean troops intended to "focus on reconstruction efforts without conducting hostile activities against Iraqi people." Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon was to cut short a visit to China to oversee the crisis. The Yonhap news agency quoted him as saying in the Chinese city of Qingdao that Seoul would ask the United States, Middle East countries and international human rights and religious organizations to help. The government has also urged all South Korean civilians still in Iraq to leave. Roh’s plan to contribute 3,600 troops to the Iraq mission would make the Korean contingent the third largest after the U.S. and British forces. The plan to send more troops to Iraq was only finalized last week, following delays attributed to concerns about security and uncertainty over where in northern Iraq the Koreans would be stationed. Opposition to the dispatch has also grown, according to opinion polls, in part because parliamentary elections last April saw a swing to the left, with the liberal Uri Party tripling its representation to become the largest party in the National Assembly. Although Uri is the party closest to Roh - and the president has pushed for the deployment - there is considerable opposition within the party to involvement in Iraq. On Monday, a group of 34 Uri lawmakers were scheduled to release a statement condemning the war against Iraq and urging Washington to apologize for going to war "based on mistaken information," the conservative Chosun Ilbo daily reported. Decapitation of victims appears to be becoming a grisly method of choice for Islamist killers.
The Islamic holy book, the Koran, appears to justify the decapitation of infidels. "When your Lord revealed to the angels: I am with you, therefore make firm those who believe. I will cast terror into the hearts of those who disbelieve. Therefore strike off their heads and strike off every fingertip of them (sura 8.12, Shakir translation). | ||
| Posted by:Mark Espinola |
| #2 patience of Job, huh Doc? |
| Posted by: Frank G 2004-06-21 10:03:04 PM |
| #1 They kill this guy, it would be their what, fourth? The only favor they're doing for us is that they're showing that they'll go after everybody. Awaiting an outraged response from the UN . . . |
| Posted by: The Doctor 2004-06-21 9:49:33 PM |