Missionaries kidnapped by Taleban warned they face death
Pastor Dale Morgan
From The Times
July 21, 2007
*
Missionaries kidnapped by Taleban warned they face death*
Tim Albone in Kabul and Leo Lewis in Tokyo
Taleban militants threatened to kill a group of South Korean Christians
yesterday unless their country withdrew its personnel from Afghanistan.
The Koreans were seized at gunpoint as they travelled by bus from Kabul,
the capital, to the southern city of Kandahar, where their church, known
for its evangelical zeal, said that they would work in a hospital.
The Taleban forbid Christians from entering Afghanistan to convert
Muslims, under threat of death. Yesterday Sayed Murard Shrifi, a
religious cleric who is head of the public court in Baghlan, said: “In
terms of punishment the one who comes to a Muslim country to convert
people to their religion must face the strongest punishment. The first
choice is death and the second life in prison.”
The party of 23 Koreans is believed to include 18 women and is the
largest group of foreigners to have been kidnapped in the militant
campaign to oust the Afghan Government and its Western backers. The
incident, which took place about 170km (100 miles) south of Kabul, comes
after the kidnapping of two Germans and five Afghan workers, who were
involved in a dam project in the province of Wardak, which borders
Kabul, on Wednesday.
South Korea has no combat troops in Afghanistan but has a contingent of
200 engineers, doctors and medical staff.
Joseph Park, mission director of the Christian Council of Korea, said:
“They are young Korean Christians who were engaged in short-term
evangelistic activity and service for children in Kandahar. We cannot
turn away from poor people and children there just because of safety risks.”
Qari Yousef Ahmadi, a Taleban spokesman, told The Times that his rebels
had carried out the ambush. Speaking via satellite phone from an
undisclosed location, he said: “It is not my decision what will happen
to them now, it is in the hands of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan.
Right now they are safe though.”
He also claimed responsibility for the kidnapping of the Germans and
five Afghan workers. He said that they would be freed only if the German
Government pulled its 3,000 troops from the country and all Taleban
prisoners were released.
Last summer 1,200 Korean Christians, including many children, arrived in
Kabul for a peace parade through the city streets. They were deported
amid fears for their safety and the parade never took place.
News of the kidnapping was met with dismay in South Korea, where people
are as passionate about religion as they are about nationalism — given
to very public displays of fervour and zealous commitment. Even on
working days the largest churches attract more than 10,000 worshippers.
South Korea sends about 1,000 missionaries overseas each year, often to
parts of the world where the chan-ces of conversion are slim, such as
the Middle East, and the risks of persecution and attack are high. Many
talk about their desire to become martyrs on behalf of the Church.
South Korean Christianity is extremely visible in its worship: the night
sky of Seoul and other large cities is peppered with red neon crosses
blazing from the steeples of churches.
The evangelistic Christian movement in South Korea is vigorous,
bordering on the fevered. It began in the 19th century, when American
missionaries arrived in a politically very weak country, but with a
strong national identity. It is now the most protestant country in Asia.