South Korean Hostage Beheaded

Kim Sun-il, 33, was beheaded by al-Qaeda-linked kidnappers, a group identifying itself as Jamaat al-Tawhid and Jihad. The body of the South Korean translator was found on the road between Baghdad and Falluja.

In a dispatch from Baghdad, South Korea's Yonhap news agency quoted an "informed source" as saying that negotiations with the kidnappers collapsed over the South Korean government's refusal to drop its plan to send troops.

This just adds to the mountain of evidence that the Islamic religious warriors are nothing but murderous thugs. Kevin Aylward has a compilation of links to the story at Wizbang.

[Update - 6/23/04, 10am EDT] Jeff in Pusan has a running account of the story from Korea. Among many, some notable aspects include:

Kim was probably kidnapped well before it was reported.

His body was found to be booby-trapped with explosives when recovered.

A number of Korean lawmakers want to appease the murderers after the fact by stopping Korean troops from going to Iraq.

Koreans have threatened to burn down a mosque in Seoul and kill Muslims in the country.

There's also been increased security at the American and British embassies.

Also from Korea, the Marmot reports that there's been some disruption on the Internet due to people searching for gruesome video of the beheading and the government trying to prevent any footage from being available.

The Ministry of Information and Communications has gone on high alert to prevent video footage of Kim's decapitation from entering Korea via the Internet, and local sites would be shut down in they are caught with the video. It also asked major Korean internet service providers to shut off contact with foreign sites that get their hands on the murder footage. Of course, when Nick Berg was killed, the ministry not only failed to take measures to prevent curious Korean netizens from watching the poor man have his head cut off, but partially state-owned MBC ran footage of Berg's murder on broadcast TV.

South Korea is understandably chaotic at present.

[Update - 6/24/04, 1130am EDT] According to this report, the South Korean Ministry of Information and Communication has ordered Internet service providers to impose a strict ban on the spread of the footage of Kim Sun-il being killed in Iraq.

"On the night of June 23 the ministry already shut down a local Web site showing images of the killing," ministry official Kim Ki-kwon said.

"The ministry ordered Internet service providers to shut down three other Web sites by noon," the official added.

In addition, the ministry requested that Internet portals ban users from conducting searches using words such as "execution" and "beheading" on their search engines.

The ministry warned that Internet users who continue to try to spread the on-line footage would be prosecuted after tracking down their Internet protocol addresses.

Some still pics are here and here.

Robert Koehler reports from the Marmot's Hole that the murder of Kim has resulted in increased public support for Korean troop deployment. Some in the public are enraged and seek vengeance for the murder. Consequently and unfortunately, Korean Muslims and mosques continue to receive threats.

[Update - 6/24/04, 4pm EDT] Just Another Pane in the Glass has the video links, both short and long versions.