It can be said that the government of the Republic of Korea (ROK) has tried hard to rescue the life of Kim Soong Il, but tragedy still cannot be avoided, which shows that, compared to their release of Japanese hostages in late April, terrorists have become more frenzied.

After the occurrence of the kidnapping incident, it is Chong Wa Dae that feels awfully sad, besides the family members and friends of the hostage. After the news about the beheading of Kim Soong Il was confirmed, ROK President Roh Moo-hyun made a brief TV speech on June 23, in which he apologized to ROK nationals for the matter, meanwhile he reiterated that the ROK would not change its plan to send troops to Iraq. Roh Moo-hyun said, "Although all nationals and the government longed and prayed for a safe return of Kim Soong Il, yet the tragedy still occurred, I feel very sad and deeply sorry for this."

Seoul did not yield to terrorists and continued to carry out its commitment to dispatch additional troops to Iraq in August. That was expectable. If the ROK declared troop withdrawal because of its national being kidnapped, the ROK government's eputation in the international community would obviously be greatly impaired. Particularly after the United States declared in early June that it would pull 12,500 troops out of the ROK, Chong Wa Dae came out hurriedly to mend the rift in ROK-US alliance relations. So from whatever angle, President Roh Moo-hyun was left with no room for openly making concession on the question of the kidnapping of Kim Soong Il.

However, Chong Wa Dae is incapable of protecting its people. To maintain ROK-US military alliance at the expense of the life of Kim Soong Il will, under all circumstances, cause the Roh administration to leave a moral defect in the minds of the S. Korean people. Presently, the ROK is deeply grieved over the death of the innocent citizen, and indignant at terrorists' rampancy. And the world will inevitably feel distressed over the cruel scene. Kim Soong Il's event will definitely bring a new shock to the ROK political circle. But for the Roh administration, there are not many optional opportunities. The political force opposing the dispatch of troops may find it hard to get enough votes from the National Assembly to veto the proposal on sending additional troops to Iraq, which is soon to be put to vote.

On the other hand, the fact that the terrorists who kidnap foreigners as hostages released the Japanese in April to mercilessly killed a S. Korean civilian in the latter half of June implies that at a time when only one week is left before the handover of sovereignty to Iraq, the test of strength between the anti-reconstruction force within Iraq and the US-Britain-led reconstruction force has tended to become fiercer. Terrorists are, of course, unable to scare away the international community 's action to strive for an early realization of peace and democracy in Iraq, but the continued spreading situation of turbulence and insecurity in Iraq has indeed forced some of the

international forces that intend to participate in Iraq's reconstruction to adopt a wait-and-see attitude. If incidents of foreigners being kidnapped in Iraq continue to take place in the future, it will doubtlessly have subtle impact on the Iraqi situation.

By People's Daily Online