Iraqi Militants Behead Korean HostageCAIRO, Egypt - An Iraqi militant group has beheaded its South Korean hostage, Al-Jazeera television reported Tuesday. The South Korean foreign ministry issued a statement confirming the report.
Kim's body was found by the U.S. military between Baghdad and Fallujah, west of the capital, at 5:20 p.m. Iraq (news - web sites) time, said South Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman Shin Bong-kil.
The South Korean embassy in Bagdad 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.
Al-Jazeera said it had received a videotape showing that Kim Sun-il had been executed.
Kim, 33, worked for a South Korean company supplying the U.S. military in Iraq and was abducted last week, according to the South Korean government.
Kim was shown in the videotape kneeling, blindfolded and wearing an orange jumpsuit similar to those issued to prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
The tape showed five hooded men standing behind Kim, one reading a statement and gesturing with his right hand. Another captor had a big knife slipped in his belt.
The video as broadcast did not show Kim being executed.
Al-Jazeera said the video claimed the execution was carried out by the al-Qaida-linked group Monotheism and Jihad.
News of the apparent beheading reached the White House in the midst of a briefing by spokesman Scott McClellan, who said he was not aware of the report.
"That would be horrible news," McClellan said. "There simply is no justification for those kinds of atrocities that the terrorists carry out. We've seen some of the barbaric nature of the terrorists recently when it comes to an American citizen that was killed in Saudi Arabia and it is a reminder of the true nature of the terrorist."
Al-Jazeera did not say when Kim was killed.
Kim's kidnappers had initially threatened to kill him at sundown Monday unless South Korea (news - web sites) canceled a troop deployment to Iraq. The Seoul government rejected the demand, standing firm with plans to dispatch 3,000 soldiers starting in August.
NKTS, a South Korean security firm doing business in Iraq, told the AP in Baghdad earlier Tuesday that Kim was still alive and that negotiations for his release continued, with the company president expected to arrive in Baghdad from Seoul by Wednesday.