In an exclusive report, the Seoul Shinmun (Korean) reports that “radical Korean Christian groups” have secretly restarted missionary work in Afghanistan.
The paper, following a tip from some Christian official, talked with Afghan officials, Christian missionary groups and the Foreign Ministry. It learned that despite a travel ban put on Afghanistan in August, some missionary groups were continuing to send missionaries to the country.
Korea, of course, had agreed to stop missionary activity in Afghanistan during its negotiation with the Taleban to free Korean missionaries taken hostage earlier this year.
The paper talked with Seoul-area missionary groups that send missionaries to the Middle East. Some of them said it was still possible to enter Afghanistan, and that they could set up missionaries with jobs with local Afghan companies or help them get into Afghanistan after getting them visas for surrounding countries like Pakistan or Uzbekistan. One group in Gyeonggi-do told the reporter that it could get her into Afghanistan by getting her a job with an Afghan company connected to the missionary group. A check with the Foreign Ministry revealed that about three Koreans were regularly posted to the company. Another missionary group, this one in Seoul, suggested that they talk after the reporter enrolled in an educational program (for missionary work). The group said it would get her into Afghanistan next year.
A Foreign Ministry official, meanwhile, said it was investigating after getting intel that even after the government decided to withdraw all Koreans from Afghanistan, “some radical missionary groups” had restarted missionary work, this time using “Koreans with third-country nationalities.” He said there were several Koreans, including a former missionary, who were delaying their departure from Afghanistan for health or business reasons, but the ministry was watching carefully out of concern that they were actually conducting missionary work.
A Korean missionary who’d been doing volunteer work in Afghanistan until she was withdrawn last month, however, said all missionaries with Korean passports had been withdrawn from the Kandahar region, but one Korean missionary group had left behind some five or six Korean missionaries with US and German passports (just the two passports you’d want in southern Afghanistan!) to continue missionary work.
The reporter talked with a colleague at the Kabul Times, who said he could still find many Koreans in Kabul, although he didn’t know whether they were missionaries or not.
According to the Foreign Ministry, there are some 90 Koreans still in Afghanistan (with Korean government permission), including businessmen. But it’s impossible to know how many Koreans have entered Afghanistan through a third country. The Immigration Bureau said it could not know if a Korean entered Afghanistan through a third country unless the Afghan authorities alerted them so.
Not all Korean churches, or missionary groups, for that matter, are happy with this. An official from one missionary group said most Korean churches were worried the restart of missionary activities in Afghanistan by a few radical groups would give the Taleban reason to attack Koreans and drive Korean Christianity into a corner.
Marmot’s Note: In case you were unclear as to how I feel about missionaries like this, see here.
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12 Comments
That was expected considering the fact that a group responsible for sending Korean missionaries abroad pretty much refused to follow the government ban on missionary work in Afghanistan.
Now why do I get the feeling that an another Korea missionary group will be kidnapped and that this time they won’t get off so easily?
I wonder if the government will overextend itself again if hostages are taken again. The most likely next president has partly made use of his Christian ties thus I wonder if he will feel pressured to act.
“Now why do I get the feeling that an another Korea missionary group will be kidnapped and that this time they won’t get off so easily?”
Goddamnit, Mins, why would you say something like that? You’re such an irresponsible Korean and Christian for already predicting the demise of Korean Christians before they even embark on another suicide, er, missionary tour.
How dare you!
Um, BTW, those were my thoughts exactly, Mins.
Some Afghans have mongoloid features so a Korean missionary can conceivably get away with being a local and blending in if he or she proselytizes smartly. Remember those five guys with the ladies in the bus? Not reported Korean at first because the Taliban had originally thought they were Afghans due to their language skills.
However, I wouldn’t count on any new Korean missionaries proselytizing with the required discression or being culturally aware or sensitive enough to “blend in.”
Perhaps they could at least have the common sense to stay in Northern Afghanistan?
e or sensitive enough to “blend in.”
“An official from one missionary group said most Korean churches were worried the restart of missionary activities in Afghanistan by a few radical groups would give the Taleban reason to attack Koreans and drive Korean Christianity into a corner.”
poor Korean Christianity… my heart goes out to it blissful, naive, ignorant multitude, one member of which recently invited me to “come see god’s love>”
I replied, “Can I really see it? What color is it? What does it smell like?”
#3 and #4
You almost got me there with the Pawi impression.
#6
Your comment reminded me of Milyang. Have you seen it? I thought it was a good movie.
Sorry for the bad quality, pic taken on the sly at IIA immigration [while leaving Korea] this afternoon.
Perhaps Afganistan will turn into a sort of missionary bug-zapper, drawing them away from other vulnerable regions into one place where they can be efficiently eradicated.
So many missionaries, so few terrorists…
The government should make it clear that unlike the last time when they bent over backwards to meet the demands of the kidnappers, that from now on, missionaries to Afghanistan are on their own. Of course, actions speak louder than words and that’s probably why the churches are lining up to get in-they probably figure that they have a ‘get out of jail free’ card vis a vis the Korean government, so no need to fear.
In Gov We Trust