Posted on 10/02/2004 2:29:59 PM PDT by Perdogg
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South Korea put its security forces on alert after Muslims were urged to resist the United States and its allies around the world in an audio tape believed to be from al Qaeda's deputy leader, government officials said Saturday.
Unification Minister Chung Dong-young, who heads the National Security Council (NSC) that oversees all security portfolios -- including intelligence, defense and foreign affairs -- convened an emergency meeting Saturday, an NSC spokeswoman said.
She declined to say what was discussed at the meeting, which was also attended by Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon, Defense Minister Yoon Kwang-Ung and other key security advisers.
Security was stepped up at airports, ports, government buildings and other key sites, ministry officials said.
"We have assumed that South Korea could fall victim to terror attacks for a long time ago and prepared measures for such a possibility," said a defense ministry official on condition of anonymity.
The Foreign Ministry repeated a government warning against travel to Iraq (news - web sites), saying the security situation was deteriorating rapidly in the Middle East.
Separately, YTN television said police has detained a man in his 50s who threatened he would explode the presidential blue house if his request to meet President Roh Moo-hyun was rejected.
Officials at the presidential office and police could not immediately confirm the report. The man was arrested after he drove his car with about 20 dynamite sticks into the presidential house.
The audio tape attributed to al Qaeda deputy leader Ayman al-Zawahri, aired by Al Jazeera television, said resistance should carry on even if al Qaeda leaders were killed or arrested.
"We should not wait until U.S., British, French, Jewish, South Korean, Hungarian or Polish forces enter Egypt, the Arabian Peninsula, Yemen and Algeria before we resist," said the tape, attributed to Osama bin Laden (news - web sites)'s top lieutenant.
"Let us start resisting now. The interests of America, Britain, Australia, France, Poland, Norway, South Korea and Japan are spread everywhere. They all took part in the invasion of Afghanistan (news - web sites), Iraq or Chechnya (news - web sites) or enabled Israel to survive."
Three South Korean civilians have been killed in Iraq in the past year, one an Arabic interpreter and devout Christian with missionary aspirations who was beheaded by Islamic militants in June.
The militants who killed interpreter Kim Sun-il had demanded South Korea withdraw its 600 troops from Iraq and cancel plans to send 3,000 more soldiers.
Those extra troops have now been deployed, and Friday they assumed military responsibility for northeast Iraq at a ceremony in the Kurdish capital Arbil.
So whatcha gonna do big boy........you wanted the USA out of your country. Don't call us now!
Well...they did send 3600 troops to help US in Iraq. So some of their citizens are crybabies...we have them here, too!
The heads of Korea KNOW they need the U.S.. The sheeple don't. Capitalism and communism don't mix and the heads also the dire straights the communists are in and do need our presence.
You are right and I stand corrected.
Unlike Europe, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Philippines and the entire middle east, South Korea is not home to a large population of Muslims to provide a proper host environment for terrorists to flourish. South Korean targets in any of the above mentioned locales are more probable.
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