WORLD / Asia-Pacific
Fate uncertain for Korean hostages
(Agencies)
Updated: 2007-07-26 10:31
Kabul - The fate of 22 South Korean Christian volunteers kidnapped by the
Taliban in Afghanistan hung in the balance on Thursday, a day after the
rebels shot dead one hostage and dumped his bullet-ridden body near where
the group was seized.
The Taliban said the Afghan government had been given until late
Wednesday night to agree to exchange the group for eight imprisoned
rebels, but the deadline passed without word from the kidnappers or
government.
Earlier reports by some media that eight hostages had been released have
been denied by officials, negotiators and a spokesman for the Taliban.
"Yes, they have killed one of the hostages and efforts are under way to
have the others released," said Khowja Seddiqi, district chief of
Qarabagh in Ghazni province where the crisis has unfolded.
A relative of South Koreans kidnapped in Afghanistan reacts as they
watching TV news reports on negotiations in Seoul, Wednesday, July 25,
2007. Taliban militants claimed they shot and killed one Korean hostage
on Wednesday while a group of abductees was freed and taken to a US
military base, officials said. [AP]
South Korea's government strongly condemned the murder of the yet unnamed
male hostage, calling it an unforgiveable atrocity.
"The government and the people of South Korea condemn the kidnapping of
innocent civilians and the atrocity of harming a human life," said Baek
Jong-chun, presidential Blue House chief national security adviser.
"Harming innocent civilians can never be justified and we will never
forgive this kind of inhumane act," he said in a nationally televised
statement.
The Taliban accused the government and South Korean negotiators of
failing to act in good faith after Kabul rejected the demand for eight
named rebels to be freed from prison.
Initially the Taliban had also insisted South Korea withdraw all its
troops serving with an international force in Afghanistan -- something
Seoul had planned to do before the end of the year anyway.
NOT LISTENING
"Since Kabul's administration did not listen to our demand and did not
free our prisoners, the Taliban shot dead a male Korean hostage," Qari
Mohammad Yousuf told Reuters by telephone from an unknown location.
Yousuf said one hostage had been killed in a desert area close to where
the 23 Koreans -- 18 women and five men -- were abducted on the main road
south from Kabul last week.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai has pledged not to swap prisoners for
hostages after being criticized at home and abroad for releasing five
Taliban from jail in March in exchange for an Italian reporter.
The president and ministers have remained silent throughout the latest
hostage ordeal, but Seoul said it would soon dispatch a special envoy to
step up coordination with Kabul.
The kidnappings have made travel outside major cities risky for the
thousands of foreign aid workers and U.N. staff in Afghanistan and may
weaken support for military involvement among the more than 30 nations
with troops in the country.
The past 18 months has seen rising violence in Afghanistan, with daily
clashes between Taliban insurgents and Afghan and foreign troops. Suicide
and roadside bomb attacks have spread to areas previously considered safe.
Anxious family members of the Korean hostages have gathered at the
offices of a non-governmental agency in Seoul to follow developments on
television. Sounds of crying emerged on Wednesday when the news came out
that one of the hostages had been killed.
About 1,000 people went to the church that sent the volunteers to
Afghanistan to pray for their safe return, the broadcaster YTN reported.
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