The Board of Audit and Inspection has entered the next phase of its investigations on the abduction and murder of South Korean hostage Kim Sun-il by Muslim militants in Iraq.

State inspectors will investigate suspicions surrounding phone calls the Associate Press allegedly made to the Foreign Ministry in early June, asking whether the ministry was aware of Kim's abduction.

The new phase of inquiries comes after three days of parliamentary hearings on the Kim Sun-il case have exposed new suspicions that remain unanswered.

The BAI said it plans to focus its investigations on the controversial telephone conversations between a Foreign Ministry officer and an AP reporter. The agency also wants to clarify suspicions surrounding a 13-minute videotape of the hostage, which the Associated Press Television News (APTN) edited and condensed to four minutes and thirty seconds for public release.

The investigative agency is planning to send a list of questions to the Associated Press and the APTN as well as summoning Seoul-based AP reporters for questioning.

The BAI also plans to closely investigate the AP headquarters on why it decided to contact Seoul instead of directly asking the South Korean Embassy in Iraq on Kim's abduction after it had received a videotape containing images of the hostage.