Kim Sun-il
Kim Sun-il | |
---|---|
South Korea | |
Died | 22 June 2004 | (aged 33)
Cause of death | Murder by decapitation |
Body discovered | 23 June 2004[1] |
Occupation | Translator |
Korean name | |
Hangul | 김선일 |
Hanja | 金鮮一 |
Revised Romanization | Gim Seon(-)il |
McCune–Reischauer | Kim Sŏnil |
Kim Sun-il (
Early life and education
Kim was born in a poor family and his biological mother died when he was nine years old.
He was fluent in
Kidnapping
Arrival
Kim arrived in Iraq on 15 June 2003, working for Gana General Trading Company, a South Korean company under contract to the American military. On 30 May 2004, he was kidnapped in Fallujah — about 50 km (31 mi) west of Baghdad — by the Islamist group Jama'at al-Tawhid wal-Jihad and held as a hostage. The group, which was allegedly led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, killed him on or about 22 June when South Korea refused to meet their demands that it cancel its plans to send 3,000 more troops to Iraq and withdraw the 660 military medics and engineers already there. (This would put South Korea behind only the United Kingdom in number of non-U.S. coalition troops in Iraq.)[citation needed]
Murder
Jama'at al-Tawhid wa'l Jihad had initially set a 21 June deadline in a videotape showing Kim pleading for his life. However, on 22 June, after initial reports that the militants had given their hostage more time,
The president of Gana General Trading is said to have known about the kidnapping almost immediately, but he did not report it until after the videotape aired. He had consulted a lawyer, who argued that the situation must be managed without government intervention if Kim was to be saved. It is claimed that government officials had little time to react. However, there are also reports that a videotape of Kim in captivity, in which he appears calm and openly criticizes U.S. intervention in Iraq, was delivered to the Associated Press Television News offices in Baghdad at the beginning of June, and that on 3 June an AP reporter in Seoul contacted the South Korean foreign ministry asking if they knew of a missing person with a name similar to Kim Sun-il.
Reactions
South Korean
U.S. President George W. Bush condemned the killers, saying: "The free world cannot be intimidated by the brutal actions of these barbaric people."
Reports and editorials in
See also
References
- ^ Sohn, Jie-ae; Faraj, Caroline (23 June 2004). "South Korean hostage beheaded: Seoul reaffirms plans to send more troops to Iraq". Cable News Network. Seoul, South Korea: Time Warner. Archived from the original on 25 June 2004. Retrieved 25 June 2004.
- ^ a b "S Korea resolute on Iraq troops". 23 June 2004.
- ^ Faraj, Carolina. "Pentagon: South Korean hostage beheaded".
- ^ "Korean media shocked by killing". BBC News. BBC. 23 June 2004. Retrieved 10 October 2018.
- NY Times. The New York Times Company. Retrieved 10 October 2018.
- ^ Gwang-lip, Moon (16 February 2011). "Missionaries fret about new passport restriction". Korea JoongAng Daily. JoongAng Ilbo. Archived from the original on 27 January 2013. Retrieved 10 October 2018.
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