SKorea races to save 22 Christian hostages - Bible Prophecy News

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*Faith Under Fire

SKorea races to save 22 Christian hostages*

    * Story Highlights
    * 22 South Koreans still held by Taliban kidnappers after militants 
killed 1 hostage
    * Hostage identified as 42-year-old Bae Hyung-kyu, killed on his 
birthday
    * Ghazni police says Afghan negotiators speaking with Taliban over 
the phone
 

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) -- A top South Korean envoy is headed to 
Afghanistan, scrambling to save 22 of his country's Christian Aid 
Workers held captive by Taliban kidnappers after the militants killed 
one hostage.

Protesters demand the release of hostages and withdrawal of South Korean 
troops from Afghanistan Thursday.

However, a local police chief said that the negotiations with the 
captors were difficult because their demands were unclear.

"One says, let's exchange them for my relative, the others say let's 
release the women, and yet another wants a deal for money," said Khwaja 
Mohammad Sidiqi, a local police chief in Qarabagh. "They have got 
problems among themselves."

On Wednesday, authorities found the bullet-riddled body of 42-year-old 
Bae Hyung-kyu in Qarabagh district of Ghazni province, where the South 
Koreans were abducted July 19. Church officials said he was killed on 
his birthday.

Bae was found with 10 bullet holes in his head, chest and stomach, said 
Abdul Rahman, a police officer. Another Afghan police official, who 
asked not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the situation, 
said militants told him the hostage was sick and couldn't walk and was 
therefore shot.

Bae's mother, 68-year-old Lee Chang-suk, broke into tears as she watched 
the televised government announcement of her son's death.

"I never thought it possible," she said from her hometown on the 
southern island of Jeju, according to Yonhap news agency.

The kidnappers "will be held accountable for taking the life of a Korean 
citizen," Baek Jong-chun, South Korea's chief presidential secretary for 
security affairs, said in a statement before departing for Afghanistan 
to consult with top Afghan officials on how to secure the release of the 
remaining captives.


After conflicting reports Wednesday from Western and Afghan officials 
that possibly eight of the other hostages had been released, South 
Korean presidential spokesman Chun Ho-sun said the 22 were still 
believed held but were not suffering from health problems.

Qari Yousef Ahmadi, a purported Taliban spokesman, said all 22 hostages 
were fine but claimed that Afghan authorities were not allowing South 
Korean officials to negotiate directly with the militants.

"Kabul officials asked us to give them more time," Ahmadi said, speaking 
by phone from an undisclosed location. "The Taliban are not asking for 
money. We just want to exchange our prisoners for Korean hostages ... 
When they release the Taliban we will release the hostages."

Chun said South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun had spoken with his Afghan 
counterpart Hamid Karzai, but did not disclose the contents of their 
discussion.

Ghazni police chief Ali Shah Ahmadzai said that the Afghan negotiators 
were speaking with the Taliban over the phone, in a hope of securing the 
hostages release.

"We will not use force against the militants to free the hostages," he 
said. "The best way in this case is dialogue."

Ahmadzai said he was hopeful about reaching "some sort of deal for the 
release of six up to eight people" later Thursday, without giving an 
explanation for his optimism.

Chun said that both governments were cooperating and that an Afghan 
official had told South Korea earlier Thursday that Kabul intended to 
negotiate with the Taliban. He said Seoul was aware of the Taliban's 
current demands but declined to specify them.

Seoul also repeated its call that no rescue mission be launched that 
could endanger the captives further.

"We oppose military operations and there won't be military operations 
that we do not consent to," Chun said.

Marajudin Pathan, the governor of Ghazni province, said militants have 
given a list of eight Taliban prisoners who they want released in 
exchange for eight Koreans.

An Afghan official involved in the negotiations earlier said a large sum 
of money would be paid to free eight of the hostages. The official also 
spoke on condition he not be identified, citing the matter's 
sensitivity. No other officials would confirm this account.

Foreign governments are suspected to have paid for the release of 
hostages in Afghanistan in the past, but have either kept it quiet or 
denied it outright. The Taliban at one point demanded that 23 jailed 
militants be freed in exchange for the Koreans.

The South Koreans, including 18 women, were kidnapped while on a bus 
trip through Ghazni province on the Kabul-Kandahar highway, 
Afghanistan's main thoroughfare.

South Korea has banned its citizens from traveling to Afghanistan in the 
wake of the kidnappings. Seoul also asked Kabul not to issue visas to 
South Koreans and to block their entry into the country.

Because of a recent spike in kidnappings of foreigners -- including an 
attempt against a Danish citizen Wednesday -- Afghan police announced 
that foreigners were no longer allowed to leave the Afghan capital 
without their permission.
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The South Korean church that the abductees attend has said it will 
suspend at least some of its volunteer work in Afghanistan. It also 
stressed that the Koreans abducted were not involved in any Christian 
missionary work, saying they provided only medical and other volunteer 
aid to distressed people in the war-ravaged country.

Two Germans were also kidnapped last week. One was found dead and the 
other apparently remains captive. A Danish reporter of Afghan origin 
escaped a kidnap attempt in eastern Afghanistan on Wednesday, the Danish 
Foreign Ministry said.