After showing the hostage's plea, the tape aired by Arabic TV, Al Jazeera, showed the Korean hostage kneeling in front of three masked men, two of them armed with Kalashnikovs. The man standing in the middle read a statement in Arabic.

"Our message to the South Korean government and the Korean people: We first demand you withdraw your forces from our lands and not send more of your forces to this land. Otherwise, we will send to you the head of this Korean, and we will follow it with the heads of your other soldiers."

The statement gave Seoul 24 hours from sunset Sunday to meet its demand.

The video came two days after news of the beheading of American hostage Paul Johnson by al-Qaida-linked militants in Saudi Arabia, and an announcement Friday by South Korea that it will send 3,000 soldiers to northern Iraq beginning in early August.

Once the deployment is complete, South Korea will be the largest coalition partner in Iraq after the United States and Britain.

On Saturday, Seoul warned its people not to travel to Iraq, saying its decision to send troops might prompt terror attacks on South Koreans.

South Korea plans to send 900 troops to Kurdish-controlled Irbil in early August, followed by about 1,100 troops between late August and early September. An additional 1,000 soldiers will travel to Iraq later.

South Korea already has 600 military medics and engineers in the southern Iraqi city of Nasiriyah.