In Iraq, al Qaeda activists threatening to behead a South Korean hostage unless Seoul withdraws forces from the war-torn country have agreed to give additional time for talks on his fate, an Iraqi mediator told Reuters Tuesday.
Mohammed al-Obeidi, an Iraqi working for South Korean security firm NKTS in Baghdad, said Iraqi clerics who were in talks with the captors of the South Korean man had told him the deadline for talks had been extended.
In a related development, a South Korean lawmaker said Tuesday that religious leaders in Iraq have confirmed that the South Korean held hostage is "alive and well."
Rep. Kim Sung-gon of the ruling Uri Party said in a telephone interview with Yonhap News Agency that he received an e-mail from Iraqi religious leaders affiliated with the World Conference on Religion and Peace (WCRP) who said they met the hostage. They reported he is healthy and they are doing all they can for his release.
On its part, Seoul has rejected the demand to pull out troops and scrap plans to dispatch more.
"The kidnappers have said they are willing to negotiate as long as the Korean government stops making provocative remarks and softens its tone on troop deployment," Obeidi said.
Meanwhile, South Korea is asking for cooperation from around the world to help free the hostage threatened with beheading but does not know for sure he is alive, the foreign ministry said Tuesday.
A special task force established to deal with the crisis met early Tuesday and the National Security Council that advises President Roh Moo-hyun is expected to meet later, Shin Bong-kil, the ministry's chief spokesman, told reporters, according to Reuters.
A group Washington accuses of links to al Qaeda set a Monday night deadline when Kim Sun-il was shown in a video tape on Al Jazeera. The deadline passed with no news of his fate.
Al-Jazeera aired a videotape Sunday purportedly from an Al-Qaeda-linked cell showing the South Korean hostage begging for his life and pleading with his government to withdraw forces from Iraq.
Seoul, for its part, has rejected the demand to withdraw its plan to dispatch 3,000 soldiers to Iraq to join some 670 already there.
"We don't have any new information for now. The situation in Iraq is changeable. The government has put in every effort for the safe return of Kim Sun-il," Shin said.
Asked whether the government knew whether Kim, 33, was alive, the spokesman said, "We cannot confirm that for sure."
The kidnappers, who identified themselves as belonging to a group led by Jordanian-born activist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, gave South Korea 24 hours to meet its demand that Korean troops leave Iraq or "we will send you the head of this Korean."
An envoy had met U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, the spokesman added.
"We have been asking for cooperation and received information through various channels," Shin said. "Since that is a very sensitive issue we ask for the media's understanding about not disclosing progress in detail."
Meanwhile, in a separate development, a US soldier was killed in a mortar attack in northern Baghdad, which left six other soldiers and one contractor wounded, according to the US military Tuesday.
The attack took place at around 6 a.m. (GMT) Monday, according to a US military statement. (Albawaba.com)
© 2004 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
