Tuesday, July 31, 2007

Martyr: Shim Sung-min


The body of Shim Sung-min, 29, one of the South Korean hostages is carried to load in the back of a vehicle by policemen after he was killed by the Taliban militants in Ghazni province, west of Kabul, Afghanistan on Tuesday, July 31, 2007. Police in central Afghanistan at daybreak Tuesday discovered the body of a second South Korean hostage slain by the Taliban, officials said.

Monday, July 30, 2007

Taliban Kills Another Hostage


KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - A purported Taliban spokesman claimed the hardline militia killed a second Korean hostage Monday because Afghanistan failed to release insurgents from prisons. Government officials said they hadn't recovered the body and couldn't confirm the claim.
Militant spokesman Qari Yousef Ahmadi said senior Taliban leaders decided to kill the male captive because the government had not come through on promises to release Taliban prisoners.
"The Kabul and Korean governments are lying and cheating. They did not meet their promise of releasing Taliban prisoners," Ahmadi, who claims to speak for the Taliban, said by phone from an undisclosed location. "The Taliban warns the government if the Afghan government won't release Taliban prisoners then at any time the Taliban could kill another Korean hostage."
Ghazni Gov. Marajudin Pathan said officials were aware of the Taliban's claim but hadn't recovered a body. He said police were looking but he couldn't say if they might find anything before daybreak.
"Ghazni is a very vast area, so we really don't know where the body is," Pathan said.
The Taliban kidnapped 23 South Koreans riding on a bus through Ghazni province on the Kabul-Kandahar highway on July 19. The militants have told the government they want 23 Taliban prisoners released from jail in exchange for the Koreans' lives.
The Taliban has set several deadlines for the Koreans' lives. Last Wednesday the insurgents killed their first hostage, a male leader of the group.

Saturday, July 28, 2007

Martyr: Bae Hyung-kyu


South Korean relatives place flowers in front of slain pastor Bae Hyung-kyu's portrait, who was among the 23 South Koreans kidnapped in Afghanistan, in Jeju, south of Seoul, South Korea, Friday, July 27, 2007. Afghan clerics and tribal elders on Friday intensified negotiations for the release of 22 South Koreans kidnapped a week ago by the Taliban, as the latest of several deadlines set by the militants approached. (AP Photo/ Yonhap, Kim Ho-chun

Friday, July 27, 2007

South Korean Hostages

Can somebody explain to me why our Christian President has not said one word about this?!?!

Wednesday, July 25, 2007

Taliban Claim To Kill 1 Korean hostage; 8 Reported Free


A police official said Wednesday that Taliban militants told him they shot and killed one of 23 South Korean hostages, while two Western officials said some others from the group of captives were freed and taken to a U.S. military base.
Purported Taliban spokesman Qari Yousef Ahmadi said one of the captives had been shot and killed around 4 p.m. (7:30 a.m. EDT), and a 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 therefore was shot.
Ahmadi said the Korean's body was left in the Musheky area of Qarabagh district in Ghazni province. Police said they were going to look for the body.
Some of the Koreans, meanwhile, were freed and were taken to the U.S. base in Ghazni, according to two Western officials who asked not to be identified because they weren't authorized to speak publicly. The officials did not know how many were freed.
The South Korean news agency Yonhap, citing unidentified Korean officials, reported eight Koreans had been released.
Earlier, a German journalist and two Afghans colleagues apparently kidnapped by Taliban militants in eastern Afghanistan were freed, an Afghan governor said.

Tuesday, July 24, 2007

Update


A relative of South Koreans kidnapped in Afghanistan, cries after watching TV news reports of negotiations in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, July 23, 2007. A purported Taliban spokesman said Monday the hard-line militia has extended its deadline for the lives of 23 South Korean hostages until Tuesday evening. The militants have pushed back their ultimatum on the Koreans' fate at least three times. Afghan officials in Ghazni province have met the militants in person and are also negotiating over the phone, but little progress appears to have been made so far. (AP Photo/ Korea Pool)

Monday, July 23, 2007

No Title Needed


A woman, a family member of one of the kidnapped South Koreans in Afghanistan, cries as she waits for television news about them in Seoul at around 1300 GMT July 23, 2007. The Taliban kidnappers of 23 Korean hostages on Sunday extended the deadline for the South Korean government to agree to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan by 24 hours to 1430 GMT on Monday. REUTERS/Korea Pool (SOUTH KOREA)

Saturday, July 21, 2007

South Korean Believers Captured In Afghanistan

Most of you have heard of this, either by my many emails or by reading the headlines in the news yourself. Please keep praying for these Believers. They need our support and prayers. Fortunately, this land and these people are not a distant reality for me anymore, so I am personally feeling the ramifications and devastation of this.....

S.Korea urges release of hostages in Afghanistan
KABUL (Reuters) - South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun on Saturday called for the release of 23 countrymen held hostage by Taliban fighters in Afghanistan, saying they were medical volunteers.
The call came as the Taliban threatened to kill two German hostages seized this week if their demand to free all of the Islamic movement's members in Afghan prisons was not met by an 0730 GMT (8:30 a.m. British time) deadline.
The Taliban is also seeking the withdrawal of all German troops from Afghanistan, a demand rejected by German Chancellor Angela Merkel in a newspaper interview on Saturday.
Insurgents kidnapped 23 South Koreans from a bus in southwest Ghazni province on Thursday in what was the biggest group of foreigners seized so far in the militant campaign to oust the government and its Western backers.
"We understand the kidnapped South Koreans have been doing medical volunteer services," Roh told a news conference in Seoul.
"The kidnappers must release our people as soon as possible, and safely. In any case, valuable lives should not be damaged."
A South Korean Foreign Ministry official had said on Friday about 20 South Korean Christian volunteers were feared to have been kidnapped by Taliban insurgents.
Last year, the South Korean government tried to stop a group of 2,000 Korean Christians travelling to Afghanistan for a peace conference, fearing for their safety.
But 900 of them still came to Afghanistan, causing an uproar in the staunchly Muslim country -- where many accused them of being evangelical missionaries -- before they were all deported.
South Korea has no combat troops in Afghanistan, but has a contingent of 200 engineers, doctors and medical staff. Roh said they would remain in Afghanistan until their mission was complete.
"The troops in Afghanistan are non-combatant, doing medical and support work. They have been trying to treat hundreds of people everyday and help reconstruct Afghanistan by building welfare facilities and bridges, and their mission is nearing an end," Roh said.
Taliban spokesman Qari Mohammad Yousuf told Reuters from an undisclosed location that the group's leadership council would decide on Saturday the fate of the Koreans, who included 18 women.


Wednesday, July 11, 2007

Perspective

Today I heard a 75 year old woman say, "I have some sin I need to deal with..."

Although I shouldn't be all that amazed by this, it still moved me.

I promise to get back in the blogger mold now that some other dealings in my life have settled a little.... :)