South Korean captive 'still alive'

A South Korean man captured in Iraq is still alive, according to South Korea's Yonhap news agency.

In a videotape broadcast by the Arab satellite television station Al-Jazeera, the kidnappers set a deadline of 24 hours from sunset Sunday for the South Korean government to withdraw its troops or they would “send you the head of this Korean, and we will follow it with the heads of your other soldiers”.

The Seoul government said it would go ahead with plans to send 3,000 troops to Iraq despite the militants’ ultimatum.

Kim Sun-il, 33, who works for a trading company in Baghdad, was believed to have been kidnapped on June 17, the South Korean government said. He was seen begging for his life on the videotape broadcast by Al-Jazeera.

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

Choi Sung-gab, head of the South Korean security firm NKTS, today told Yonhap his Iraqi business partner contacted the kidnappers who said Kim Sun-il was still safe and alive.