Korea gets Iraq hostage ultimatum

The deadline expires at sunset on Monday

Islamic militants in Iraq have threatened to execute a South Korean hostage within 24 hours.

A video message called on South Korea to withdraw its armed forces from Iraq, three days after it said it would increase its troops there.

In Seoul, officials held emergency talks and said that although they would seek the man's release there would be no change in the deployment plan.

The militants are also holding 10 other foreigners, according to one report.

The South Korean hostage's employer told Yonhap news agency that the foreigners included at least one European journalist and some people working for American firms.

In other developments:

• The bodies of four US soldiers have been found in Ramadi, west of Baghdad. It is unclear when they died

• Iraq has begun exporting oil from its two southern terminals again after they were attacked by saboteurs last week

• Radical Shia cleric Moqtada Sadr has been invited to take part in next month's Iraqi national conference

Deadline

In the video released by the militants, Kim Sun-il, a 33-year-old translator working for a company that supplies the US army, screams: "Korean soldiers, please get out of here. I don't want to die. My life is important"

The Korean government is trying to help the Iraqi people, so they should immediately and unconditionally release the Korean national Ban Ki-moon South Korean Foreign Minister Mother pleads for son's release

The video was broadcast on the Arabic TV channel al-Jazeera, which said that it had arrived in an unmarked package at the station's Baghdad office.

The two-minute tape showed the hostage surrounded by armed men wearing masks.

"We ask you to withdraw your forces from our land and not to send any more troops, and if not we'll send you this Korean's head," said one of the men.

The tape said that the 24-hour deadline would expire at sunset on Monday.

A banner identified the group as Jamaat al-Tawhid and Jihad, which is led by a leading al-Qaeda member, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

Last month, the same group beheaded an American hostage, Nick Berg, and it has been responsible for a number of other attacks, including the killing of Iraqi Governing Council head Ezzedine Salim.

Warning

The South Korean foreign minister combined a call for the hostage's release with confirmation that the troops would be sent.

"The Korean government is trying to help the Iraqi people, so they should immediately and unconditionally release the Korean national," Ban Ki-moon said.

"My government's decision to dispatch our troops for the purpose of helping the Iraqi people to rehabilitate their economy remains unchanged."

South Korea already has 660 army engineers and medical personnel in the southern Iraqi city of Nasiriya, where they are involved in humanitarian and rehabilitation projects.

Zarqawi's group has carried out a number of attacks

But on Friday, the South Korean defence ministry announced that it would send another 3,000 troops to northern Iraq from early August.

The next day, the government issued a warning against any travel to Iraq, saying its troop decision might lead to attacks on South Korean citizens.

There has been considerable opposition in South Korea to the deployment of troops in Iraq.

A recent poll published in the Hankook daily suggested 57.5% opposed the sending of any more troops, while 40% backed the plan.

President Roh pledged to US President George W Bush last October that he would send troops to Iraq, in a gesture of support for a key ally who currently has 37,000 troops in South Korea.

Failed negotiations

Kim Sun-il is reported to have been abducted on 17 June in the city of Falluja, one day before South Korea announced its increased troop deployment.

South Korean officials said that his employer, Gana Trading Company had already tried to negotiate Mr Kim's release without informing the government of the situation.

The company has 12 staff in the Iraqi capital and the other employees have been moved to a hotel.