Al-Qaida linked kidnappers behead Korean hostage

An al-Qaida linked Iraqi militant group beheaded its South Korean hostage today and his body was found on a road between Baghdad and Fallujah.

His killers sent a video of Kim Sun-il’s final moments to the pan-Arab satellite channel 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 men 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.”

The part of the tape broadcast did not show Kim dead, but the presenter said he had been beheaded.

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

Al-Jazeera said the execution was carried out by the al-Qaida-linked group Monotheism and Jihad.

His kidnappers had initially threatened to kill Kim on Monday night unless South Korea agreed to cancel its deployment of troops to Iraq. The Seoul government rejected the demand and said it would dispatch 3,000 soldiers, beginning in August.

The security firm for which Sun-il worked in Iraq, said earlier today that Kim was still alive and that negotiations for his release were continuing.

South Korean government officials gave numerous interviews to Arab media appealing for Kim’s freedom.

Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon was scheduled to appear tonight on Al-Jazeera, the network that initially aired footage showing a captive Kim pleading: “I don’t want to die! I don’t want to die!”

The South Korean Foreign Ministry confirmed that Kim Sun-il was dead.

His body was found by the US military between Baghdad and Fallujah, this afternoon, said spokesman Shin Bong-kil.

The South Korean embassy in Baghdad confirmed that the body was Kim by studying a picture of the remains it received by e-mail, Shin said.

“It breaks our heart that we have to announce this unfortunate news,” he said.