By Sohn Hee-jun

The remains of Kim Sun-il, a South Korean taken hostage and murdered
by armed insurgents in Iraq, will arrive here Saturday, the Foreign Ministry said on Friday.

Kim’s remains will arrive at 5:25 p.m. at Incheon International Airport on Korean Air flight KE952 from Dubai, the ministry said.

The body will be transferred via an air force plane to a hospital in Kim’s hometown of Pusan, some 450 kilometers southeast of Seoul, where an altar has been set up in memory of the victim.

The 33-year-old employee of Gana General Trading Co., a South Korean supplier to the U.S. military in Iraq, was kidnapped and killed by armed insurgents claiming to belong to the al-Qaida-linked terrorist group, Unification and Jihad.

Kim’s kidnapping was first revealed to the public last Sunday (Baghdad time) when Arab TV network Al-Jazeera broadcast a video clip sent by the insurgents.

His captors gave the Seoul government 24 hours to cancel its plan to send troops to Iraq to assist the U.S.-led coalition forces to reconstruct the war-torn country.

Seoul sent a group of negotiators to try and win Kim’s freedom but the negotiations broke down. His body was later found on a road near Baghdad.