Mourning and Anger

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Since the beheading of Korean interpreter Kim Sun Il in Iraq last week, Koreans have been struggling to comprehend the brutal act—and wondering whom to blame. Some of the thousands attending nightly candlelight vigils have pointed fingers at the United States; others denounced South Korean President Roh Moo Hyun; a few directed their anger at South Korea's small Muslim community, with one man even barging into a mosque in Seoul wielding a knife.

With emotions running high, Roh's critics hoped he would reconsider his controversial decision to send 3,600 soldiers to join the more than 600 military doctors, nurses and engineers already in Iraq. But last week the President stood firm, telling South Koreans that "terrorism must not achieve its goal." Washington, which needs all the support it can get in Iraq, praised Roh's tough-guy stance, relieved that for once he hadn't played to the anti-American sentiment of his young, left-leaning voter base. Even the conservative Chosun Ilbo daily, usually one of his harshest critics, praised Roh's "firm will." Says Lee Chung Hee, an expert on Korean politics at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies in Seoul: "Roh showed he can be a quick and decisive leader even at the cost of losing support in the street."

South Koreans remain evenly split on the troops issue. Nearly 50% oppose the dispatch, according to a recent television poll—down from 56% earlier this year—while 48.5% are in favor. But Kim's gruesome death has already transformed some opponents of the deployment into angry supporters. Marketing expert Kim Eun Kyung, 27, objected to helping with the war, saying, "It felt like we were a puppet of the U.S." But now, she says, "I want us to send a lot of troops. I want to get revenge."