Home > South Korea seeks to block web hostage video
South Korea is trying to block Internet access to a videotape of the beheading of a South Korean hostage killed by Islamic militants in Iraq.
The gruesome killing of 33-year-old Kim Sun-il this week after Seoul rejected demands to stop sending more troops to Iraq has inflamed passions and shocked in the East Asian country.
The Ministry of Information and Communication had introduced a 24-hour emergency monitoring system in a bid to close down any Website that uploaded video footage of Kim’s execution.
"When the nation is in mourning, the ministry felt it was necessary to take strong measures," a ministry official said by telephone on Thursday. "When we think it’s appropriate, we will take legal actions or request police investigation", the official added.
The ministry had also sought help from South Korean broadband firms such as KT Corp, Hanaro Telecom and Internet service providers.
A tape of the beheading, posted on an Islamist Website, shows heavily armed and masked men standing over a kneeling Kim, who was blindfolded and wearing an orange tunic.
One man read from a written statement while another in a black mask grabbed Kim, hurled him to the floor and severed his head. The head was then placed on the body, which was later found by U.S. forces.
Kim, an Arabic-speaking interpreter, was an evangelical Christian who had worked in Iraq for a year for a South Korean firm supplying the U.S. army. The Arabic satellite channel Al Jazeera aired some of the tape on Tuesday, but did not broadcast the beheading. (Reuters)