A South Korean hostage kidnapped in Iraq last week remains safe while negotiations continue for his release, the head of a South Korean security firm in the Gulf state said on Tuesday.

Choi Seung-kap, president of NKTS, said a local partner of the company had succeeded in contacting the armed insurgents believed to be the abductors of Kim Sun-il, who reportedly went missing since last Thursday along with several other foreigners.

Choi said he had confirmed that Kim remains safe and added negotiations for his release were ongoing.

An armed Iraqi insurgent group released a video over the weekend, showing Kim pleading for his life and his abductors threatening to behead him by dawn Tuesday if South Korea did not cancel its earlier commitment to deploy additional troops to Iraq.

Choi said he was aware of Kim's whereabouts but could not reveal it for the sake of the hostages' safety.

NKTS opened an office in Baghdad in February to train local security personnel but sent back most of its Korean employees after a group of South Korean missionaries was kidnapped and later released by armed guerillas in mid-April.