And as the violence in Iraq intensifies,... the world is worried... not only about the fate of the country,... but also about global oil prices.
Instability in the nation stands to affect global supplies... and raise prices,... as it's already begun.
Our Connie Lee has more. The worsening crisis in Iraq... is causing concerns in the international community about oil output and oil prices.
At production of about 3-point-3 million barrels a day, Iraq is the world's second-biggest oil producer... after Saudi Arabia... in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, or OPEC.
According to the International Energy Agency... the country accounts for roughly 4 percent of global oil production.
Making matters worse, OPEC says that global consumption will "increase sharply" in the last quarter of 2014,... and the organization plans to produce more to meet demand.
Worries of a civil war breaking out in Iraq... have startled markets and pushed the international benchmark to a three-month high, above 110-U.S. dollars a barrel.

"We are very sensitive of what goes on in the Middle East, there's no question, that spills over and is reflected in the Brent price usually.// It's a global market so everything is interrelated so what goes on there affects us also."

Surging oil prices could also have an impact on Korea.
According to the Korea National Oil Corporation, Iraq is the nation's fifth-largest oil supplier, making up nearly 8 percent of its imports.
The hundred of so Korean companies operating in Iraq... are watching the turn of events closely.
An emergency meeting in Seoul on Sunday... attended by the Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy... and officials from state-run and private sector firms, concluded that Korean companies in Iraq have not yet been affected by the unrest.
Connie Lee, Arirang News.

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