Yesterday, I made the comment that I thought it was odd that the South Korean government confirmed the body of Kim Sun-il's as his based off of a digital picture sent over email.
Today, an AP report out of Baghdad reports some more oddities. Let me just entertain you with these. I'm not really saying anything, just thinking aloud to myself.
1. Kim Sun-il was kidnapped around May 31 and not June 17, as initially reported by his employer, Kim Chun-ho of Cana General Trading Co., as reported by a South Korean Foreign Ministry official.
2. "...[B]efore it was widely known that Kim was missing - a videotape was delivered to Associated Press Television News in which Kim says in English that he liked the Iraqi people and criticized the United States for the war in Iraq."
The tape delivered to the APTN office in Baghdad in early June by an unidentified courier shows Kim, an employee of a supplier to the U.S. military, seated before a bare beige wall. He is alone, clean-shaven and his hair is cut short.
In the tape broadcast Sunday, Kim had a scraggly beard and his hair was much longer, indicating several weeks had passed. He was wearing a dark shirt with the words "Body Glove" written on them.
A voice off camera asks him questions, and he replies in halting English. He gives his name, says he was born Sept. 13, 1970, and gives his place of birth as Busan. When asked his occupation, he says he taught mathematics.
He says he came to Iraq about six months ago and that he wanted to study Arabic.
After this, a portion of the tape is erased. When the image returns, Kim - still in the same place, and in the same clothes - says he was at an American camp three days ago, to "deliver merchandise," including pillows and sunglasses.
He mentions his brothers and sisters, and says he is the only one in his family who is single.
Kim also describes President Bush as a "terrorist" and says the United States is "killing the Iraqi people."
"I saw George Bush attack here because of Iraqi oil," he said. "So I don't like George Bush or America."
Kim says he went to Fallujah and that the Americans searched him. He stands up, turns around and puts his hands on the wall as if he were being searched.
"I like Iraqi people. The Iraqi people are very kind," Kim said. "I think they are poor because of war."
I'm trying not to suggest too much because it crosses the conspiracy theory line. However, I find it odd that Kim speaks so freely and openly on this video. My take is that he feels safe because of where he is and who he is with. I think he is answering questions in broken English because the questions are being asked in English. I think the report would have mentioned if the questions were being asked in broken English, which would suggest that he was being interrogated by non-Americans.
3. "APTN did not broadcast the videotape because it was unclear if Kim was being held against his will. But in the first week of June AP asked the Foreign Ministry in Seoul about Kim and was told that the government had no reports of a South Korean in captivity."
4. "Kim's predicament was clear in two videotapes that were released in the past week by his captors: one shows Kim begging for his life and screaming, 'I don't want to die,' and the other shows him seated in front of masked gunmen shortly before his death."
If Kim Sun-il's comments were meant for the South Korean government, why are all of his comments (cries for freedom) in English?
5. "Kim was believed to have been killed about 14 hours earlier, South Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman Shin Bong-kil said, citing an evaluation by a U.S. military doctor."
Again, I find it odd that the South Korean embassy did not run their own tests on Kim's body; confirm it was his body and determine the time of death, exact cause of death, etc. In the above fact, Kim's time of death was determined by an evaluation by a US military doctor.
Reverse the roles (that a South Korean military found an American soldier's body), and the method of confirming the body and post-mortem examinations would not have occurred by South Korea. Right?
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