Subject:  Horrified South Korea condemns beheading, firm on Iraq troop dispatch |
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Date Posted: 20:48:34 06/23/04 Wed
Mideast - AFP
Horrified South Korea condemns beheading, firm on Iraq troop dispatch
Wed Jun 23, 4:34 AM ET
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SEOUL (AFP) - South Koreans expressed grief and anger over the beheading of a Korean hostage in Iraq (news - web sites) as the government vowed to defy terrorists and send thousands of extra troops to the war-torn country.
President Roh Moo-Hyun denounced the killers of Kim Sun-Il, 33, in a brief televised statement as his stunned nation went into mourning.
"Terrorism is an inhuman crime," he said. "We must never allow it to achieve its purpose."
A small group of protesters rallied in Seoul to denounce the killing and burn portraits of the leader of the group that killed Kim after Seoul refused to cancel a new deployment of more than 3,000 troops to northern Iraq.
In graphic pictures aired on the Arab satellite channel Al-Jazeera, a terrified Kim was shown kneeling in an orange jumpsuit in front of masked gunmen, one of whom was armed with a large knife.
Kim's body was found by the US military Tuesday dumped on the road from Baghdad to Fallujah, the foreign ministry said.
South Korea (news - web sites) already has over 600 military personnel in Iraq, and Roh said the larger troop dispatch would go ahead as planned in August.
"I have repeatedly stressed that the dispatch of troops is not to engage in hostile activities against Iraq and other Arab countries but to help reconstruction and reconciliation," Roh said.
South Korean police stepped up security amid fears of a possible backlash against South Korea's small Muslim community. About 40 callers threatened to blow up Seoul's main mosque.
Riot police were also being drafted in to the capital ahead of planned demonstrations later Wednesday by activists opposed to the troop dispatch.
Already dozens of protesters torched posters of alleged Al-Qaeda operative Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi, leader of the Tawhid wa al-Jihad (Unification and Holy War), which carried out the killing.
Last month the group beheaded 26-year-old American Nicholas Berg, a telecommunications expert who went missing in Iraq.
Near the US embassy, a rally of about 100 civic group members and anti-war activists chanted anti-US slogans and waved placards reading "US and Korean governments killed Kim Sun-Il."
Kim's grief-stricken parents blamed the government for failing to secure the release of their only son, a translater working in Baghdad for about a year for a South Korean firm providing supplies to the US military.
"My poor son was killed by the government," his 63-year-old mother, Shin Young-Ja, said. "The cursed government kept declaring it stood firm on its decision to send troops while claiming it was doing its best to save him."
World leaders denounced the killing and Washington praised Seoul's resolve on the troop dispatch, which will make South Korea the third largest coalition partner in Iraq after the United States and Britain.
To reduce the chances of further abductions, South Korea ordered the evacuation of all nationals in Iraq, foreign ministry spokesman Shin Bong-Kil said. Only essential personnel would remain, he said.
Kim's killing triggered an outpouring of grief and anger here while polarizing opinion about the deployment of troops to Iraq.
"The government must cancel its plan to dispatch troops for the US-led war so that such a tragic event will not happen again," said Choi Woo-Suk, a 29-year-old Seoul office worker.
Many young South Koreans blame the government for the death of Kim, saying his beheading was a direct result of a decision to send troops at the request of the United States.
On Wednesday, 50 lawmakers, including 27 from the ruling Uri Party, submitted a motion to cancel the troop dispatch in parliament, although the motion lacks the necessary support to win approval.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/afp/20040623/wl_mideast_afp/iraq_skorea_hostage_040623083416
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