Hundreds of people, including senior government officials and politicians, crowded into a gymnasium in the southern port of Busan for Kim Sun-Il's Christian funeral service.

His parents and sisters sobbed as Kim's casket, covered with white chrystanthemums and red roses set in the shape of a cross, was carried into the gym.

A large banner over the altar was inscribed with a phrase from a last message he e-mailed home, which read: "I love Iraq." A portait of a smiling Kim was printed on the banner.

A screen next to the altar showed video films including one in which Kim was seen pleading for his life with his Islamic militant captors, causing his mother, Shin Young-Ja, to break down.

"The beloved Sun-Il has left us, but he will serve as the seed that was buried to bear fruit for peace in Iraq and the Middle East," his sister, 41-year-old Kim Hyang-Lim, told mourners in a speech.

The funeral lasted three hours, and included prayers, a mourning poem by one of his friends, speeches by relatives and Busan Mayor Huh Nam-Shik.

Kim was to be buried later in a public cemetery in this southern port.

The body of the 33-year-old interpreter for a South Korean firm which supplies the US military was found dumped on a road outside Baghdad a week ago after the South Korean government rejected an ultimatum to scrap plans to deploy over 3,000 troops to Iraq and withdraw over 600 already in the country.