SEOUL, South Korea - South Korea said Monday that it would go ahead with its plans to send troops to Iraq despite the abduction of a South Korean man and the televised broadcast of his desperate pleas to stay alive.

The kidnapping tested South Korea’s resolve just days after it announced that it would dispatch 3,000 troops to assist in reconstruction efforts in northern Iraq. Once the deployment is complete, South Korea will be the largest partner in the U.S.-led coalition after the United States and Britain.

Sunday, the Arab satellite TV network Al-Jazeera aired a videotape purportedly from militants linked to al-Qaida showing the South Korean man, Kim Sun-il, begging for his life and pleading with his government to withdraw its troops from Iraq.

In Seoul, hundreds of protesters attended a candlelight vigil Monday night to demand the release of the Kim and a reversal of the decision to send troops. Some held placards reading “Sending the troops kills, kills, kills.”

A similar rally was scheduled for South Korea’s second largest city, Busan, while demonstrators staged a sit-in outside the ruling Uri Party headquarters in the southwestern city of Kwangju.

Others held
Kim, 33, is an employee of Gana General Trading Co., a South Korean supplier for the U.S. military.

As many as 10 other foreigners are being held with Kim, including a European journalist and “third country” employees for the U.S.-based contractor Kellogg Brown & Root, the South Korean news agency Yonhap reported, citing Kim’s employer.

if (window.displayApp) { displayApp(IraqCoalitionTroops); }   BY THE NUMBERS Troops in Iraq Which countries have provided military support United States 130,000 Britain 12,000 Albania 70 Australia 1,000 Azerbaijan 150 Bulgaria 470 Czech Rep. 92 Denmark 496 Dominican Rep. 300 El Salvador 360 Estonia 55 Georgia 70 Hungary 300 Italy 3,000 Japan 1,000 Kazakhstan 25 Latvia 120 Lithuania 105 Macedonia 28 Moldova 25 Mongolia 180 Netherlands 1,100 New Zealand 60 Nicaragua 230 Norway 150 Philippines 95 (175 on the way) Poland 2,400 Portugal 130 Romania 400 Singapore 200 Slovakia 69 (120 on the way) South Korea 675 (3,000 on the way) Thailand 443 (30 on the way) Ukraine 2,000 Sources: Reuters news reports/GlobalSecurity.org. • Print this

Kim Chun-ho, president of Gana General Trading, told Yonhap in Baghdad by telephone from Mosul that some of the abductees were seen by an Iraqi go-between who had visited the kidnappers to try negotiating the South Korean’s release. The report could not immediately be confirmed.

In the videotape, the kidnappers identified themselves as belonging to a group led by the Jordanian-born terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. They gave South Korea 24 hours from sundown Sunday to meet its demand or “we will send you the head of this Korean.”

South Korea’s National Security Council and Foreign Affairs and Defense ministries hastily met after news broke of the abduction.

“There is no change in the government’s spirit and position that it will send troops to Iraq to help establish peace and rebuild Iraq,” Deputy Foreign Minister Choi Young-jin said at a news conference.

President Roh Moo-hyun said the incident was “deeply unfortunate and regrettable” and instructed his government to do all it could to win the release of Kim, Roh’s office said in a statement.

Kidnapped in Fallujah
Kim was abducted June 17 while making a delivery in the city of Fallujah, Choi said. Kim Chun-ho, Gana’s president, tried to negotiate his release before notifying the government, Choi said.

“We are sorry that we can’t provide further details because sensitive government efforts are under way to save his life,” Choi said.

Reports said Gana had evacuated its employees from their Baghdad office and relocated them to a hotel.

A South Korean television news station, YTN, said Kim had been in Iraq for about eight months. His distraught sister, Kim Jung-sook, told the station that his family last spoke to him in April. At that time, she said, Kim Sun-il was in the Fallujah area and planned to return to South Korea in July to attend his father’s 70th birthday.

Kim, described as a devout Christian who is the youngest of eight brothers and sisters, studied Arabic as well as English in South Korea. On the tape, he is heard screaming in English: “Korean soldiers, please get out of here. I don’t want to die. I don’t want to die. I know that your life is important, but my life is important.”

Kim’s tearful mother, Shin Young-ja, told YTN: “The government should do whatever it can to save my son’s life. Time is running out.”

South Korean military medics in southern Iraq have suspended free medical treatment to Iraqi patients because of security concerns stemming from the kidnapping, said Maj. Chun Heung-soo, a spokesman for the Defense Ministry in Seoul.

“This should never be interpreted as a protest against the kidnapping,” Chun said. “We are doing it because we thought there was a lack of safety for our medical staff.”

Deployment announced Friday
South Korea warned its people Saturday not to travel to Iraq, saying its decision to send troops might prompt terrorist attacks on South Koreans.

South Korea announced Friday that it would send 3,000 soldiers beginning in early August to the Irbil area in northern Iraq. About 600 South Korean military medics and engineers who are currently in the southern Iraqi city of Nasiriyah will redeploy to Irbil to join the larger force.

Seoul has portrayed the deployment as a way of strengthening its alliance with the United States, thereby winning more support from Washington for a peaceful end to a long-running dispute over North Korea’s nuclear weapons development.

What A waste of time... What is coming from this? May God be with all those in Iraq...