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It has been learned that Kim Sun-il was executed as soon as the Korean government refused to accept unacceptable demands that it cancel plans to send troops to Iraq.
A source familiar with events on the ground in Iraq said, "I know that the group that kidnapped Kim presented certain conditions to start negotiations to free the hostage... I know this wasn't a question of money, but the cancellation of plans to send troops to Iraq as initially presented on al-Jazeera TV."
The source said, "The kidnappers have been, from the very beginning, a political organization uninterested in money, and I know that they hung preconditions on the talks that didn't involve money, but said that if the Korean government talks about withdrawing plans to send troops, negotiations could begin... These were conditions the Korean government could not accept, and accordingly, as soon as it appeared negotiations would go nowhere, the group made an extreme choice."
Supporting this presumption, a core Korean embassy official, when asked about the hostage talks, said Tuesday evening local time (1:00 a.m. Wednesday, Korea time) that, "The situation is very bad."
Another knowledgeable source said, "I know the group that kidnapped Kim was not a normal resistance group, but a specialized group assembled for a political purpose... Accordingly, I know this was not as issue of money, but as was first presented on al-Jazeera, the purpose was political, as were the demands."
The source said he knew that the group said through a third person on Tuesday that only if the Korean government made a statement related to the cancellation of plans to send troops to Iraq could negotiations to release Kim begin.
He said the group gave a deadline of 7:00 p.m. Tuesday (local time) for the Korean government to announce its position on this matter.
Related to this, the Korean Embassy in Baghdad plans to make an announcement on this matter once the Foreign Ministry makes an official announcement.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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