South Korea strongly condemned Wednesday the execution of a South Korean hostage by an Islamic terrorist group and confirmed its commitment to deploy additional troops to the war-torn country.

The beheaded body of Kim Sun-kil, a 33-year-old worker for Cana General Trading Co., a Baghdad-based Korean foodstuff supplier to the U.S. Army, was found at 5:20 p.m. (1320 GMT) in Baghdad, which is 10:20 p.m. in Seoul, South Korea's Foreign Ministry said.

"The government strongly condemns the beheading of Kim Sun-il by a terrorist group in Iraq as an inhuman act of terror," a government statement issued after a National Security Council emergency meeting said.

"The government reaffirms that its basic spirit and position on sending troops to Iraq remains unchanged as it is for the reconstruction of Iraq and humanitarian aid," the statement said.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Shin Bong-kil said Kim's body was found by the U.S. military outside Baghdad, shortly after Arab satellite broadcaster Aljazeera aired video footage in which the terrorists announced the execution.

The South Korean Embassy in Baghdad confirmed that the body was Kim's by studying a photo e-mailed by the U.S. military, Shin said.

Cana president Kim Chun-ho later visited a U.S. military morgue and visually confirmed the body found was Kim's, said South Korean Ambassador Lim Hong-jae in Baghdad.

President Roh Moo-hyun will issue a statement condemning the killing in the morning. Earlier, he discussed the situation with leaders of the ruling Uri Party and Cabinet members.

Kim's mother, Shin Young-ja, 59, living in the southern port city of Busan, collapsed upon hearing the news and was admitted to a hospital.

Kim's three sisters embraced each other in grief and cried.

Source: Agencies