First Eight Korean Hostages Released
One of the three released Korean hostages is escorted by the Red Cross workers after they were released by Taliban in Ghazni Province, west of Kabul, Wednesday.
QALA-E-KAZI, Afghanistan (AP) - Taliban militants on Wednesday released eight of 19 South Korean captives they promised to free under a deal struck with the South Korean government to resolve a nearly six-week hostage crisis.
The hostages were released into the care of officials of the International Committee of the Red Cross at two separate locations in central Afghanistan close to the city of Ghazni, according to an Associated Press reporter on the scene.
The first group of three women were released in the village of Qala-e- Kazi. Several hours later, four women and one man were released in a desert close to Shah Baz, said the reporter, who witnessed both hand- overs.
None of the eight said anything to reporters.
The three women arrived in Qala-E-Kazi in a single car, their heads covered with red and green shawls. Red Cross officials quickly took the three to their vehicles before leaving for the office of the Afghan Red Crescent in Ghazni, witnesses said.
In Seoul, South Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman Cho Hee-yong said the three, who he identified as Ahn Hye-jin, Lee Jung-ran and Han Ji- young, did not appear to have any health problems.
To secure the release of the church workers, South Korea reaffirmed a pledge it made well before the hostage crisis began to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan by the end of this year. Seoul also said it would prevent South Korean Christian missionaries from working in the country, something it already promised to do.
The Taliban apparently backed down on earlier demands for a prisoner exchange.
The Taliban originally kidnapped 23 hostages as they traveled by bus from Kabul to the former Taliban stronghold of Kandahar on July 19. In late July, the militants executed two male hostages, and they released two women earlier this month.
The insurgents have said they will free all the hostages, who they are holding in different locations, over the next few days.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, a former South Korean foreign minister, welcomed the news of a deal and called for all the hostages to be freed quickly.
He said he used “all possible efforts” as secretary-general to help obtain the release of the hostages, talking to leaders in Afghanistan and the region who might have influence.
“I welcome that news that both the Korean government and Taliban representatives have agreed to release the remaining 19 hostages,” he said.
The Tuesday deal was made in face-to-face talks between Taliban negotiators and South Korean diplomats in the central Afghan city of Ghazni. The Afghan government was not party to the negotiations, which were facilitated by the International Committee of the Red Cross.
The South Korean government and relatives of the hostages have stressed that the South Koreans kidnapped in Afghanistan were not missionaries, but were doing aid work such as helping in hospitals.
The Taliban had been demanding the release of militant prisoners in exchange for freeing the hostages. Afghan officials had ruled out any exchange, saying such a move would only encourage further abductions.
Abductions have become a key insurgent tactic in recent months in trying to destabilize the country, targeting both Afghan officials and foreigners helping with reconstruction. A German engineer and four Afghan colleagues kidnapped a day before the South Koreans are still being held.
Be respectful of others and their opinions. Inflammatory remarks and inane leftist drivel will be deleted. It ain’t about free speech, remember you’re in a private domain. My website, my prerogative.
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Time out while we deal with psychos captured by savages.
August 29th, 2007 at 2:31 amI admire your mission ladies…But you should have know the risks…Don’t do that again….Stay home next time.
August 29th, 2007 at 5:33 amaside from doing nothing in response to 2 of your citizens being murdered for the “crime” of charity, you insist that they werent there as missionaries. The taliban and the rest of the world understand that when a church sends people somewhere even for charity theya re also sending them as witnesses to christ. I wouldnt be surprised if these hostages denied their faith in order to save their lives.
with witnesses like these
August 29th, 2007 at 5:40 amDo-gooders just getting in the way.
August 29th, 2007 at 7:03 amJam:
Do-gooders just getting in the way? No they don’t..You can’t stop a missionary from doing what they do…Do-gooder or not…you ain’t going to convince them to quit…
So long as they know the risk and are willing to pay the price…Let em drive on.
But if these people were willing to deny their faith…then they are failures who should have stayed at home…
The men who were shot…were probably the gutsiest ones. With their kind of commitment, the do-gooders’ risk would have been worthy.
Short of that outcome, they should have stayed home in their soft beds and their soft life, cause they aren’t ready for prime time in the Islamic world.
The crown goes to the victor, not the loser. Go home ladies…and stay there…
August 29th, 2007 at 8:42 am