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The Arab cable news network Al-Jazeera reported Tuesday that Kim Sun-il has been executed by his captors. Al-Jazeera received a video tape recording his execution. The broadcast said that the al-Qaeda-linked group "Monotheism and Jihad" executed Kim, and that it would soon broadcast the video sent by the group.
Government Confirms Death
The government announced early morning Wednesday that it had confirmed Kim's death.
Foreign Ministry spokesperson Shin Bong-kil said, "U.S. military authorities contacted our military authorities and said that at 10:20 p.m. Korea time and 5:20 local Iraq time, a body presumed to be that of an East Asian was discovered 35km outside of Baghdad in the direction of Falluja... Afterward, an email sent to our embassy in Iraq confirmed that the body was that of Kim Sun-il."
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A video image released Wednesday(Korean Time) by Al-Jazeera television shows a group of heavily armed gunmen, standing over kidnapped Korean Kim Sun-il. Militants beheaded Kim in Iraq Tuesday after Seoul refused their demand to withdraw its troops and scrap plans to send additional troops./ Al-Jazeera TV
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The report from the U.S. military authorities was sent from the Korean Embassy in Baghdad to Foreign Ministry headquarters at 11:00 p.m.
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Parents of Kim Sun-il wail after learning that Kim was killed by Iraqi insurgents on Wednesday morning./Yonhap
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Shin said that embassy personnel are on their way to the site to identify the body, and that the standing committee of the National Security Council has been meeting since 2:00 a.m.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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