South Korea has warned the country's shipping firms of potential terror attacks following a threat from an Islamic militant group, a government official said on Saturday.
The Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Ministry asked Hanjin Shipping Co and seven other shipping firms in official letters to strengthen vigilance and urged crew members not to go ashore in Middle Eastern countries.
"The government have urgently sent warning letters to eight shipping companies following an Iraqi militant threat," said ministry spokesman Kim Jong-soo. "We are now closely monitoring their routes."
An Islamic group said in a warning posted last week on the Web site albasrah.net that companies delivering goods to US forces would be targets for attack. Kim said the group named a South Korean firm along with eight other international firms.
Last week, the government warned civilians not to travel to Iraq after the beheading in June of Kim Sun-il, a 33-year-old South Korean interpreter abducted by Islamic militants.
His killing came ahead of the planned departure next month of 3,000 South Korean specialist troops for Iraq in what will be the nation's biggest overseas military mission since the Vietnam War.
They will form the third largest contingent in Iraq after US and British forces.
About 600 South Korean army medics and engineers were deployed to Iraq in May 2003.