3 ROK soldiers convicted of graft

SEOUL: Three South Korean army personnel have been convicted of accepting or seeking bribes while serving as part of a US-led alliance aimed at rebuilding Iraq, an official said yesterday.

One of the three, a captain, was sentenced last month by a South Korean military court to three years in prison for taking $25,000 and a digital camera worth $800 from a local firm involved in construction projects in the northern city of Irbil in return for administrative favors, said an official at South Korea's Defense Ministry.

Two others - a master sergeant and a major - received suspended jail terms for demanding bribes from other Iraqi firms, said the ministry official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, citing department policy. The two failed to get any money, he said.