Korean Catholics condemn Bush for beheading of South Korean in Iraq

Published: 2004-07-02

SEOUL, South Korea (CNS) -- Korean Catholics participating in a Mass for a South Korean citizen beheaded in Iraq blamed U.S. President George W. Bush and the South Korean government for the killing. Forty members of the Catholic Priests' Association for Justice celebrated the Mass June 28 at a park in downtown Seoul, reported UCA News, an Asian church news agency based in Thailand. About 100 other religious and lay people prayed for Kim Sun-il at the outdoor Mass as about 5,000 other people maintained a candlelight vigil not far away. Kim's beheaded body was found on the road between Baghdad and Fallujah June 23. The 35-year-old translator, who worked for a South Korean trading company supplying goods to the U.S. military in Iraq, was killed the night before, according to officials in Seoul. His captors, members of a militant group opposed to foreign forces in Iraq, threatened to behead him if their call for ending the Korean military presence in the country was not met.

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