Iraqi Suspect Arrested for Murder of Two Korean Workers

Iraqi police have arrested at least one suspect in the killing of two workers from Seoul’s Omu Electric Co. in Sammara, the Kyoto News Agency reported on December 8.

Kyoto reported that the interim chief executive of the northern Salah ad Din province, Hosin Jasem Mohamed al-Jbouri, announced the arrest at a news conference December 7. He did not specify the number of suspects or the exact time of the arrest. Two Korean workers, Kwak Kyung-hae, 60, and Kim Man-soo, 46, were shot to death in an ambush on their way to Tikrit from Sammara on November 30. Of the recent slaying of two Japanese diplomats, al-Jbouri said, “Suspects seemed to be divided into two groups, one with collecting information and the other with operating on the basis of the intelligence. It means they had an elaborate plan for the attack.”

Al-Jbouri’s statement echoed Iraqi Interim Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari’s recent remarks that the Japanese diplomats were the victims of a meticulously premeditated murder. Kyoto reported that the suspect or suspects arrested for the Koreans’ murder might also shed light on the murder of the two Japanese diplomats.

Hun-Joo Cho hanscho@donga.com