Deputy Foreign Minister Choi Young-jin says there were five Foreign Ministry officials who had personally received or known about the AP news agency's inquiry on the abduction of Kim Sun-il.

According to Choi, five ministry officials from the public affairs bureau wrote statements detailing what they knew about the AP contact. Their statements have been submitted to the Board of Audit and Inspection, which is currently investigating the case.

Earlier on Saturday, the Foreign Ministry said that that two of its officials received a telephone inquiry from the AP's Seoul bureau early this month over the kidnapping of a South Korean hostage in Iraq. The Foreign Ministry had initially denied receiving any inquiry from the AP.

Last week, AP said it had inquired the Foreign Ministry on June 3rd on whether any Korean man had been missing or kidnapped in Iraq, but was told that the ministry was unaware of any such abduction.