RIYADH, 28 June 2004 — A South Korean diplomat has denied that a group of assailants attempted to kidnap a Korean national in Riyadh recently.
“There was some problem with one of our nationals, but it was definitely not an attempted abduction,” said Kim Soo-kon of the South Korean Embassy contradicting a report published yesterday.
A South Korean lawmaker claimed that there had been an attempt by a militant group to abduct a South Korean resident in the Kingdom.
“The case of attempted abduction was kept secret by the Korean Embassy in Riyadh,” said Kwon Young-ghil, chairman of the Democratic Labor Party, at a press conference in the South Korean city of Busan yesterday.
“Four suspicious Arabs tried in vain to abduct a 33-year-old South Korean taekwondo teacher who lives in Riyadh, on June 10.”
Kim did not say what kind of problem the martial arts teacher faced and refused to provide further details, saying only the man “is about to leave Saudi Arabia.”
The man is reportedly shaken by the incident and has made up his mind to leave Riyadh for good. He was not available for comment.
Kwon has also been quoted as saying that the beheading of South Korean hostage Kim Sun-il in Iraq showed that Koreans living in Iraq and the Middle East were becoming direct targets of terrorism, and called for the government to come up with concrete security measures.
A statement released by South Korea’s Foreign Ministry yesterday strongly urged Korean nationals to leave Iraq and Saudi Arabia.
It said that “fresh unrest” was expected in the run-up to Wednesday’s transfer of power from the United States to an interim Iraqi government and that it was “dangerous for South Koreans to be in the region.”
