A South Korean man who was abducted in Iraq was shown on videotape on Sunday pleading for his life, with his captors threatening to behead him unless his government pulls its troops from Iraq.

Al-Jazeera television network broadcast the video, in which the hostage cries in English, "Please get out of here. I don't want to die... Your life is important, but my life is important."

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Three men whose faces were covered with scarves were standing behind him.

Two of them held rifles; the third said, "We ask the government of South Korea and the people of Korea to pull their forces out of Iraq and not to send additional forces.

"Otherwise, we will send this hostage's head back to them and, god willing, we will kill more of your troops in Iraq. And you have 24 hours, starting tonight."

Al-Jazeera's editor-in-chief, Ahmed al-Sheikh, said the tape was left on Sunday at the network's office in Baghdad.

The South Korean foreign ministry in Seoul said that the man was Kim Sun-il, 33. He worked for a trading company.

South Korea has about 600 troops in Iraq and plans to send another 3,000.