Gunmen Seize S. Korean Envoy in West Beirut

BEIRUT —  Heavily armed gunmen kidnaped a South Korean diplomat on his way to work in Muslim-held West Beirut today in the first seizure of a Far Eastern official in Lebanon.

They grabbed Second Secretary Do Chae Sung, 43, after forcing his car to stop on a seafront boulevard by shooting out two of its tires 300 yards from the embassy, Lebanese security sources said.

In Seoul, a Foreign Ministry spokesman said four men bundled the diplomat into the trunk of another car and sped off. He said he had no idea why the diplomat was taken.

Consul Not Taken

Embassy officials in Beirut declined to comment, but the security sources said Do was riding with the South Korean consul in a green Peugeot station wagon without diplomatic markings when the car was ambushed at 8:10 a.m. The consul was not taken.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the abduction, which brought to 14 the number of foreigners held by kidnapers in Lebanon. Seven of them are diplomats or embassy officials.

The kidnaping of three Spanish officials two weeks ago was the first involving foreigners in three months, a period which saw intensified efforts to win freedom for foreign hostages.

Islamic Jihad Claims

Church of England envoy Terry Waite and a French government team made contact with kidnapers holding U.S. and French hostages during repeated visits to Beirut. But they apparently made little further progress.