Students lie in the street Monday during a rally opposing South Korea's decision to send troops to Iraq. Overnight, hundreds of South Koreans gathered in front of the ruling Uri Party office in Gwangju, south of Seoul, to condemn the decision.
Kim Sun-il, a South Korean man taken hostage by militants on June 17, sits in front of his captors in this image taken Sunday from a video broadcast on Al-Jazeera television. The gunmen killed Kim after giving South Korea an ultimatum to cancel plans to send more troops to Iraq. Kim, an evangelical Christian who speaks Arabic, worked in Iraq for a year as a translator for a South Korean firm supplying goods to the U.S. military.
Protesters carrying placards gathered on a downtown Seoul street chanting, "We are against the dispatch of troops!" police said.
Students carry picket signs during a candlelight vigil near the U.S. Embassy in Seoul.
Kim Jong-kyu, left, and Shin Young-ja, parents of Kim Sun-il, participate in a candlelight vigil in Pusan, south of Seoul, to protest their government's decision to send South Korean troops to Iraq.
Koreans reacted with horror and sorrow when they learned Wednesday, June 23, 2004, of the beheading of Kim Sun-il. Before Kim's death was publicized, local and foreign Muslims prayed for his safety at the central mosque in Seoul, South Korea.
Kim's parents grieve early Wednesday after learning of their son's death.
