Sun Bigan, head of a team responsible for rebuilding the Chinese Embassy to Iraq, said Wednesday in Baghdad that he was shocked by the killing of the South Korean hostage Kim Sun-il.

Sun expressed the shock and sorrow while holding a telephone conversation with South Korean Ambassador to Iraq Im Hong Jae.

In the phone talks, the top Chinese diplomat also offered his sympathy to the family of the victim.

On Monday, Sun had also called on Im to express concern over the hostage issue and held discussions with IM on rescue work.

South Korean hostage Kim Sun-il, 33, was beheaded by an Iraqi militant group late Tuesday. In a tape shown by the pan-Arab al-Jazeera satellite TV channel, one of the kidnappers read a statement addressed to the Korean people, blaming the tragedy for the South Korean government's fault in sending army to Iraq.

Kim was kidnapped on June 17. The group which held him threatened on Sunday night to kill him within 24 hours if the South Korean government does not withdraw its troops or stop sending more troops to Iraq.

Source: Xinhua