September 2, 2007 – 12:44 pm
After a 10 hour flight via Korean Air, First Class (Pic below. Heck, the Saemmul Church is paying for their airfare, and the church probably considers them as “heroes”, and you don’t want your “heroes” coming home in Coach), the 19 hostages arrived at Inchon International Airport at 6:35am today, finally ending the hostage crisis. [...]
September 1, 2007 – 9:32 am
The Korea World Missions Association, has expressed “dissatisfaction” with the agreement between the Korean government and Taliban banning missionary work in Afghanistan. It has also released a document that proposes setting up a crisis management team for overseas missionaries and lays out ground rules for crisis management. In other words, if there is an another hostage crisis, then [...]
August 31, 2007 – 10:55 am
Update: It seems that ’ol Yousaf (whose name is disturbingly similar to that of my undergrad mascot (#4)) can’t crow enough about the Taliban’s ‘victory’ over Korea. From CNN:
Taliban spokesman Qari Yousef Ahmadi vowed to abduct more foreigners, reinforcing fears that South Korea’s decision to negotiate directly with the militants would embolden them.
“We will do the same [...]
August 31, 2007 – 5:35 am
Even the German Green Party is upset with Korea’s handling of the Afghan hostage crisis. Meanwhile, the Taliban seem quite pleased with themselves, and are promising more kidnappings.
Sphere: Related Content
August 30, 2007 – 12:40 pm
The S. Korean government is planning to ask the hostages and the Saemmul Church to reimburse the cost of releasing the recently released hostages from Taliban captivity.
The Saemmul Church has agreed to pay for the air fares of the released hostages and the cost for transporting the two slain male hostages to Korea. It has agreed to [...]
August 30, 2007 – 12:39 am
While receiving a courtesy visit from GNP presidential candidate Lee Myung-bak, former president Chun Doo-hwan said if the Taliban hadn’t freed the Korean hostages, he would have considered going to Afghanistan to offer himself as a hostage instead. He noted that he had Special Forces training, and could have handled the difficult conditions better than [...]
August 28, 2007 – 8:43 pm
According to the Blue House, the S. Korean government and the Taliban has agreed on the release of the 19 remaining hostages. The condition for their release are;
1. Withdrawal of Korean troops
2. End to all Christian missionary activities in Afghanistan
However, the Blue House cautioned that because there has been an agreement that didn’t mean that the hostages [...]
August 25, 2007 – 10:09 pm
The Kookmin Ilbo (Korean), citing a report in the Afghan Islamic Press (AIP), reports that the Taliban is set to free the remaining 19 Korean hostages being held in Afghanistan.
The AIP report says that the Korean government and Taliban, with Saudi Arabia acting as a mediator, have come to an agreement freeing the hostages.
The report [...]
August 22, 2007 – 9:13 pm
“South Koreans are becoming increasingly frustrated over what they perceive as US intransigeance in not facilitating the release of 19 Korean hostages held by the Taliban in Afghanistan. For them, the US pledge of “not negotiating with terrorists” rings hollow. Richard P Lawless Jr, who is the new former US deputy under secretary of defense for [...]
August 20, 2007 – 8:16 pm
Great idea! If there’s one group of people who can touch the Taliban’s hearts, it’s the Buddhists. Oh, wait…
August 17, 2007 – 10:58 am
Spotted this heart-warmer over at Pandora TV (which, for some odd reason, I can’t seem to embed) — a Kurdish schoolgirl sends a “thank you” video to departing Korean troops in Iraq. In Korean, no less.
Sphere: Related Content
August 13, 2007 – 10:04 pm
It’s official. The MOFAT has just announced that two Korean female hostages have been freed and that they are in the custody of Korean officials.
August 13, 2007 – 1:56 pm
South Korean officials reportedly nixed two rescue missions to free 21 Korean hostages held by the Taliban in Afghanistan. From The Times:
On one occasion Afghan and US troops were mobilised and ready to storm the Taleban positions. Separately, Afghan secret police were ready to arrest the families of the Taleban commanders involved as a way [...]
August 11, 2007 – 11:42 pm
According to the Yonhap, Al-Jazeera has reported that the Taliban has agreed to ”unconditionally” release two women hostages, who are in poor health, on “humanitarian” grounds.
AFP, on the other hand, is reporting that the Taliban has already freed the two hostages as a “gesture of goodwill.” However, there is no official confirmation regarding the release from the Korean MOFAT.
UPDATE : The [...]
August 11, 2007 – 12:39 pm
Doug Bandow speaks the truth. Again.
Read the essay on your own. Here’s just a sample:
Ending America’s security guarantee and troop deployment would leave the ROK’s future in its hands. The South could decide whether to intervene in a nation like Afghanistan without worrying lest a negative decision trigger Washington’s displeasure.
Seoul also wouldn’t expect any particular [...]
August 7, 2007 – 10:47 pm
The Hankyoreh (Korean) comments on something that personally I’ve found quite annoying about the manner in which the Korean press has covered the Korean hostage situation in Afghanistan.
Namely, the Korean press has done very little actual journalism work. Instead, it has concentrated on translating foreign press reports.
If you’ve been reading the Korean press, I’m not [...]
August 7, 2007 – 11:56 am
Apparently Death Eaters have come to Korea and, somehow, I do not think it will avail Lord Voldemort whatsoever if his faithful Death Eaters stand in front of the American embassy (I just finished the last book). I was surprised to learn that Kyobo had the last Harry Potter book on the very day [...]
And in the Independent, Daniel Jeffreys writes on how Korea has turned against the “arrogant” Christian hostages. (HT to reader)
August 4, 2007 – 12:48 pm
Meeting with a group of high-ranking Korean lawmakers visiting the United States, the Afghan ambassador to Washington asked Seoul to stop making public statements opposing the use of force. [YTN, Korean].
The ambassador said he fully understood Korea’s position, but it would be best if such statements weren’t made publicly.
The lawmakers, meanwhile, stressed to the ambassador [...]
Update: The title of the online version has been changed from Korea’s Christian Soldiers to Korea’s Christian Warriors. Perhaps someone complained about using the word ’soldier’ considering the context of the story.
Of course, the original title comes from the old English hymn Onward Christian soldiers. According to Wikipedia, the title of the hymn was derived from 2 [...]
