South Korea condemns Iraq death, says troop plan on

1.00pm

SEOUL - South Korea has condemned the beheading of a South Korean hostage by Muslim militants in Iraq as an "inhumane act of terror" and vowed to go ahead with plans to deploy 3000 more troops to the country.

In the southern port city of Pusan, the parents of 33-year-old Kim Sun-il sat cross-legged and stunned in their modest backstreet house today as relatives and neighbours sought to console a daughter wailing and thrashing around in grief.

"The government strongly condemns the killing of Kim Sun-il by a terrorist group in Iraq as an inhumane act of terror," said the National Security Council that advises President Roh Moo-hyun after an emergency night meeting to discuss a crisis that could magnify domestic opposition to the troop deployment.

South Korea has had about 670 military medics and engineers in southern Iraq since May last year. The militants had demanded Seoul withdraw them and drop plans to send 3000 more troops to help rebuild a Kurdish region in northern Iraq.

"Our government's basic spirit and position has not changed," Foreign Ministry spokesman Shin Bong-kil told reporters, reading from the Council statement. "We confirm that again because our troop deployment is for reconstruction and humanitarian aid support for Iraq."

That explanation -- repeatedly given by government officials -- had not impressed the militants, one of whom said on the video tape aired on Arabic television station Al Jazeera: "Enough lies. Your army is not here for the sake of Iraqis but for the sake of cursed America."

The National Security Council said it would strengthen safety measures to prevent similar incidents and was seeking the early withdrawal of all non-essential South Korean civilian residents. The government has already said about 30 businessman will leave.

Kim had been in Iraq for about a year working as an Arabic translator for a small trading firm that supplies goods to the US military.

The government said US soldiers found Kim's body five days after he was seized in Falluja, a guerrilla hotbed 50km west of Baghdad.

Shin said the South Korean embassy in Iraq reported to the government in Seoul soon afterwards and later confirmed the body was Kim's after receiving an emailed photograph from South Korea.

There has been vocal opposition to the deployment plan in South Korea but Roh has argued it was a tough but crucial step to support the United States, an ally with 37,500 troops in South Korea to deter the North.

There was no immediate comment from Roh, a former labour lawyer who was reinstated last month after the Constitutional Court overturned a March impeachment vote.

Some members of parliament have pledged to put forward a resolution as early as Wednesday to overturn the deployment plan. But they are unlikely to succeed because most of the ruling party, which has a majority in the chamber since an April general election, and the conservative opposition support the deployment.

Responding to the beheading, US President George W. Bush urged Roh not to be intimidated by the militants.

"I haven't had a chance to speak to President Roh yet," Bush told reporters. "But I would hope that President Roh would understand that the free world cannot be intimidated by the brutal action of these barbaric people."

- REUTERS

Herald Feature: Iraq