Father of Nick Berg Urges Seoul to Withdraw Iraq Deployment

Father of American Beheaded in Iraq Urges Seoul to Stop Deployment

By Kim Hyun
SEOUL, Oct. 8 (Yonhap) -- The father of an American civilian killed in Iraq earlier this year called on the South Korean government Friday to withdraw its troops from the Middle Eastern country immediately.

"I want to offer my deepest condolences to the family of Kim Sun-il," Berg said, trying to contain his emotions.

"There will never be any words I could say that would adequately express what I feel... But I can say that I've been helped by the strength of people around me, from the strangers who've come to my side," he said, referring to the families of other victims of the Iraq war and the September 11th terrorist attacks.

Sporting a tee shirt with the words "War is costly" that was decorated with small anti-war pins, Berg said he also wants Koreans to realize that average Americans do not appreciate or simply don't know about Korea's military presence in Iraq.

"It is a safe assumption most Americans do not know South Korea deployed its troops, that there's any connection between those troops and Kim Sun-il, and most Americans do not remember the name of Kim Sun-il," he said.

The father, often coming close to tears, rebuffed the South Korean government's explanation that the troops are needed for reconstruction of the war-torn country, saying governments have never sent troops to the Middle East "for free."
"People in the Middle East, they don't want Americans, They don't want Westerners. We never go and give things away for free. It's gonna cost them (Iraqis)," he said.

As a strong supporter of U.S. Democratic presidential hopeful John Kerry, Berg said he will continue his activism around the world to encourage American citizens to defeat U.S. President George W. Bush in the presidential election in November.

"George Bush is responsible for the death of my son, he is responsible for the death of Kim Sun-il," he said, "Bush must go."
His son, who had been in Iraq to find contracts for his small communications equipment company, was killed in May, one month after he disappeared while staying in Baghdad. The beheading was broadcast by a Web site of an al-Qaida-linked group, which the U.S. government identified as being led by Jordanian Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi, which later beheaded Kim Sun-il.

i really dont know what to say about this...i cant imagine what this man must be feeling...




[edit on 13-10-2004 by Creepy]