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President Roh Moo-hyun has instructed the Board of Audit and Inspection to investigate the controversy surrounding APTN's videotape of Kim Sun-il, which was delivered to its Baghdad office in early June.
The main issue is why the Foreign Ministry was not able to make an early detection of Kim Sun-il's capture and whether there was any cover-up.
The Associated Press has said its TV division held onto the tape for weeks because it was unable to confirm the man's identity with the Foreign Ministry in Seoul.
As part of efforts to deal with mounting criticism over its competence, the Foreign Affairs and Trade Ministry has intensified its internal probe into claims by The Associated Press, of how an AP reporter tried to verify the kidnapping of Kim Sun-il with the ministry in early June, but to no avail.
The U.S. news organization has refrained from disclosing the name of the ministry official who allegedly spoke with the AP reporter.
At that time according to the AP, the official said it was not aware of any South Korean in captivity in Iraq.
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Video showing Kim Sun-il after being abducted. APTN obtained it early this month and released it Thursday. In the video, after telling his name and nationality, Kim says, ¡°I came to Iraq because I wanted to learn Arabic more. I have one brother and three sisters, all of whom are married.¡±
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Should investigations prove that such an exchange did indeed take place on June 3rd as AP asserts, the official in question will be reprimanded as spokesman of the Foreign Ministry Shin Bong-kil has revealed.
Yet, this alone is not expected to appease public anger as many question how the ministry could have been so ignorant of Kim's plight until it made headlines three weeks after his capture.
The trail of missed clues could prove seriously damaging to the government especially if citizens conclude that more could have been done to save Kim Sun-il.
Arirang TV
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