Korean hostage beheaded in Iraq

Malacañang and the United Nations condemned yesterday the beheading of a South Korean hostage by Islamic militants in Iraq.

Deputy Presidential Spokesman Ricardo Saludo also expressed concern for thousands of Filipinos in the war-torn country.

"We condemn any form of bloodshed," said Saludo after South Korean translator Kim Sun-Il was beheaded by a group linked to the al-Qaeda terror network.

Saludo said Filipino civilians who felt threatened could leave Iraq and the government would assist in repatriating them.

"We are concerned for the Filipinos (in Iraq)," he said.

A team of diplomats has been monitoring the security of some 3,000 civilian Filipino workers in Iraq, he added.

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said yesterday that no cause can justify the "heartless" murder of the 33-year-old Kim and appealed again for the immediate release of all hostages in Iraq.

"The secretary-general is appalled by the murder... (and) condemns in the strongest terms this heartless crime, which no political or other cause can justify," UN spokesman Fred Eckhard said in a statement.

"The secretary-general condemns all such acts of hostage-taking, which can have no justification and are aimed at undermining international efforts to help restore peace and security in Iraq."

Both Annan and Foreign Affairs Secretary Delia Albert strongly condemned the killing of Kim, who worked for a South Korean company supplying the US military in Iraq.

The Philippines currently holds the presidency of the UN Security Council,

At the start of a council meeting Tuesday afternoon, Albert said that "in the face of such evil, the world must stand united against the scourge of international terrorism that continues to plague our global community."

The South Korean government had refused the kidnappers’ demands to cancel a planned troop deployment to Iraq.

Filipino civilian workers are stationed mostly in US military installations in Iraq, apart from the 51 Filipino troops serving with occupation forces.

A Filipino worker was among 16 people killed when a car bomb tore through a main boulevard in Baghdad this month, bringing the number of Filipino deaths during the 14-month occupation to three.

Three Filipino soldiers were also wounded in an ambush by Iraqi militants this month.

Malacañang said it may pull out troops from Iraq when an interim government comes to power at the end of the month.

South Korea’s Foreign Ministry has confirmed a report on the pan-Arab Al-Jazeera station that Kim was dead.

Al-Jazeera said he was beheaded.

His kidnappers threatened to kill him unless South Korea canceled a troop deployment to Iraq, but the South Korean government rejected the demand.

South Korea stood firm with plans to dispatch 3,000 soldiers starting in August. — AFP