QINGDAO, China - South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-Moon Monday called for the immediate and unconditional release of a Korean national kidnapped in Iraq, and pledged to push ahead with plans to send troops to the war-ravaged country.
"We are very much disturbed and shocked at the news of the kidnapping of a Korean national. We do not understand why this has happened," he said on the sidelines of a regional conference here.
"The Korean government is trying to help the Iraqi people, so they should immediately and unconditionally release the Korean national.
"My government's decision to dispatch our troops for the purpose of helping the Iraqi people to rehabilitate their economy remains unchanged."
Ban would not be drawn on whether Seoul was prepared to negotiate with the hostage takers, but said the government was working to find a solution.
"We are not still trying to locate where he is and I don't want to make any comment on that," he said when asked about negotiations.
"My government is trying to take all necessary measures in close coordination with friendly countries and neighbouring countries to secure the safe release of the kidnapped Korean national."
An armed Islamist group on Sunday threatened in a video tape screened on Al-Jazeera television to behead the hostage unless Seoul promises within 24 hours to send no more troops to Iraq.
According to media reports quoting South Korean diplomats in Iraq, the South Korean, identified as Kim Sun-Il, was an employee of a Korean military-supplies provider for the US army.
The threat came just two days after an American hostage was decapitated by Al-Qaeda extremists in Saudi Arabia after their 72-hour deadline ran out for the release of hundreds of militants detained in the oil-rich kingdom.
While the war in Iraq is unpopular in South Korea, the government Friday said it would start deploying some 3,000 troops to northern Iraq from August on a relief and rehabilitation mission.
Under deployment orders, the troops, mainly non-combatants, are to engage in relief work only and steer clear of conflict.
President Roh Moo-Hyun called the kidnapping "very disturbing" as Kim was seen pleading for his life in a video tape screened on Al-Jazeera television on Sunday and repeatedly broadcast on South Korean TV networks.
His abductors threatened to behead him unless Seoul agreed within 24 hours to send no more troops to Iraq.
"Korean soldiers, get out of here. I don't want to die. I don't want to die," Kim said in English on the video footage seen here.
One of the hostage-takers was shown delivering the ultimatum in Arabic.
"Do not send any more troops to Iraq or we will send you the head of this Korean and it will be followed, God willing, by the heads of your soldiers," said the man, flanked by two other hostage takers, all wearing scarves to hide their faces.
"We give you 24 hours starting from Sunday June 20, 2004" to agree to the demand, he said.
The men said they belonged to the Tawhid wa al-Jihad (Unification and Holy War) group, led by the Al-Qaeda operative Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi whom Washington blames for a long list of attacks in Iraq since the fall of Saddam Hussein.
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