Inquiry is ordered amid suspicions officials knew weeks ago the South Korean had been kidnapped
Seoul has denied accusations it delayed making public the abduction of South Korean Kim Sun-il in Iraq to head off public opposition to a plan to send additional troops to the war-torn country.
'[There is] absolutely no reason for a cover-up,'' declared foreign ministry spokesman Shin Bong-kil.
President Roh Moo-hyun yesterday ordered an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the kidnapping. Kim, 33, was beheaded on Tuesday by Islamic extremists linked to alleged al-Qaeda terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi after Seoul refused to reverse a decision to send more than 3,000 troops to Iraq.
Speculation about the government's response to the kidnapping of Kim was heightened after it emerged he first went missing as early as the end of May.
Yoon Hyo-won, a spokesman for the Democratic Labour Party, which is leading the campaign against the deployment of South Korean troops to Iraq, said: 'I certainly have suspicions about a cover-up, but we need to look at the evidence and to this end political parties have come together to set up a parliamentary commission to inquire into the circumstances.''