S. Korea Protests Handling of Journalists

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

http://www.rockymounttelegram.com/news/content/news/ap_story.html/Intl/AP.V5710.AP-SKorea-US-Prote.html;COXnetJSessionID=ALJnvuIG7kJqM2f5IKTNxgiTAXDmCrr7H2RASclFjpZB1ip3lGTN!-169744124?urac=n&urvf=10786759433590.7835328636749942

SEOUL, South Korea (AP)--South Korea has demanded an apology from the U.S. military for briefly detaining three South Korean TV journalists in Iraq, officials said Sunday.

The journalists were detained after a sniffer dog found suspected traces of explosives on their luggage as they tried to enter the Palestine Hotel in Baghdad, where many foreign reporters and contractors are staying.

Soldiers secured the journalists' hands behind their backs with plastic cuffs and held them beside a concrete barrier outside the hotel. A bomb squad checked their bags as soldiers temporarily barred people from entering or leaving the hotel.

South Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade said the journalists, of the national broadcaster KBS TV, were held for about four hours and questioned before being released.

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