Posted on 06/22/2004 1:31:59 PM PDT by Destro
Slain South Korean Spoke Arabic, Was Devout Christian
Tue Jun 22, 2004 03:59 PM ET
By Martin Nesirky
SEOUL, South Korea (Reuters) - On Monday, Kim Sun-il stood gesticulating as he shouted desperately at the camera, "I don't want to die."
On Wednesday, the Arabic interpreter and devout Christian who dreamed of missionary work in the Arab world knelt silently and impassively before his Muslim militant captors beheaded him.
The scenes from videotapes aired on Arabic television station Al Jazeera were broadcast repeatedly on South Korean television, sending a chill through many people who already had reservations about the government's plan to send troops to Iraq.
The militants had demanded South Korea withdraw 670 military medics and engineers already in Iraq and drop plans to send 3,000 more troops to help rebuild the country.
South Korea rejected the demand and reiterated after news of Kim's death the deployment would go ahead.
The seventh of eight children, Kim had been working in Iraq as an interpreter for the past year. As a Christian, he mixed that work with evangelizing, media reports say.
"Don't worry about me, Mom. I feel comfortable," Kim told his mother when she asked about the danger he faced in Iraq during their last telephone conversation in April.
Kim was born in September 1970 and graduated with a degree in Arabic from South Korea's top language school, Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, in February 2003.
Kim first studied English at a college that is now Youngsan University, graduating with a diploma in 1992, officials say. He then majored in theology at Kyungsung University, again in his hometown of Pusan, earning a degree in February 1994.
"He is introverted, kindhearted and studies hard," his mother said on YTN television before his death was announced. She and her husband said their son "lived with no greed."
PLANNED RETURN
Kim, who was single, had planned to return to the southern port city of Pusan in July to celebrate his father's 70th birthday.
Kim was to have been ordained as a Christian minister and dreamed of being a missionary in the Arab world, media reports say.
He entered Iraq on June 15, 2003, said the South Korean Foreign Ministry, one of a handful of South Koreans doing business in a highly dangerous environment. Almost all plan to leave the country within days.
Kim worked for Gana General Trading, a company with 12 employees in Iraq to supply goods to the U.S. military.
He was kidnapped in Falluja last Thursday and his company's president initially sought to negotiate his release without involving the South Korean government, the ministry said.
It was not clear why Kim was in the Falluja area, which is a particularly high-risk region in a dangerous country. (Additional reporting by Kim Miyoung, Rhee So-eui, Park Sung-woo, Ryu Ji-young and Lee Jun-goo)
© Reuters 2004. All Rights Reserved.
A TRUE MARTYR
I'm still trying to figure out why we let al Jezeera continue to operate. They are nothing but a propaganda arm for the terrorist.
FACT: Like AP, Reuters is friends with the terrorists.
some freelancers may yet have to take them out some day, if governments cannot see past their political correctness, and summon the gall and testes to do something about it
Reuters is arab-owned.
All a beheading is going to influence the Koreans to do is remember the Japanese occupation of their country.
That always makes them angry.
I suspect they will increase the number of troops they are sending to Iraq if they get permission to have free reign in their own private zone of operations.
No doubt ALL Iraqis look alike to these guys.
Do you have any idea what site is showing the videos of the beheadings besides from Ogrish? (Paul Johnson, Robert Jacobs and Kim Sun-il)
I am very close to a border that seems to have alot of terrorist activity, mainly arms dealings and such. Not a comforting thought now that I think about it!
It's the Uruguayan - Braizailian border town of Chuy!
I think I will stay away from there considering I am an Aussie!
OUR PRAYERS ARE WITH HIS FAMILY.
OUR APPRECIATION IS WITH S.KOREA FOR NOT BEING INTIMIDATED.
on a historical note,i served with roc marines in 1978.
these are fighting men that don't forget the meaning of honor and despise terrorist behavior because rightly they know it is cowardly.
These beheadings are testaments to the fact that george Bush was right these people and those like them must be destroyed.
Please be careful.
I think the millitary should provide some sort of homing beacons to foreigners living in hostile territories.
Revelation 20:4
Revelation 20:4
revelation 14v19-20
Falluja ??? Why Oh Why would anyone want to be within 20 miles of Falluja ?? I would hope and pray that any American civilians would stay out of Fallja !!
Then one of the elders asked me, "These in white robes--who are they, and where did they come from?"
I answered, "Sir, you know." And he said, "These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore,
"they are before the throne of God and serve him day and night in his temple;
and he who sits on the throne will spread his tent over them.
Never again will they hunger; never again will they thirst.
The sun will not beat upon them, nor any scorching heat.
For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; he will lead them to springs of living water.
And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes."
-Rev 7
I think it's long past time that we bomb AL-Jezeera and all its affiliates! They are just as guilty by airing the footage of these terrorists with their threats and barbaric murders...
(Pardon me now while I strut my holier than thou-ness before y'all. </sarcasm>)
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