South Korea on Sunday hailed the capture of Iraqi former leader Saddam Hussein and hoped it would help stabilize the situation in the war-devastated country.

"Our government hopes that former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's arrest will help eradicate all terrorism in Iraq in the future," South Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman Shin Bong-kil said in a statement released near midnight Sunday.

The capture of Saddam Hussein will serve as an opportunity to bring about political stability and improved livelihood of the Iraqi people and to accelerate post-war recovery and reconstruction, said the spokesman.

"Our government hopes peace will take root in Iraq," Shin said.

Earlier in that day, the US military in Iraq officially announced that Hussein was captured in a raid on a farmhouse near his hometown of Tikrit north of Baghdad on Saturday local time.