I placed this as a reminder that other countries face the same problems as the US with respect to terrorism. In this case, it's Korea. Regardless of the country, the story of innocent lives being impacted is the same.
Taliban Kill Second Korean Hostage
Taliban killed another Korean hostage in Afghanistan after the latest deadline for negotiations expired on Monday. Qari Yousuf Ahmadi, a purported spokesman for the Taliban, told the Chosun Ilbo, AFP and AP by phone, “'Finally tonight at 8:30, we killed one of the Koreans named Sung Sim with AK-47 gunshots.” He claimed the armed group also killed one German hostage.
The victim is presumed to be Shim Sung-min. The body of the hostage had been dumped in the Qarabagh district of the southern province of Ghazni, Ahmadi said. Shim is the second Korean killed by the militants after the Rev. Bae Hyung-kyu, who died last Wednesday. Shim recently quit his job and was preparing to go to an agricultural graduate school. He had told Japanese broadcaster NHK by phone on Sunday that he was with three hostages but did not know where.
Prior to the killing, the militants extended the deadline by four hours, saying that the Taliban leadership council, the group’s supreme decision-making body, would then decide on the fate of the hostages unless the Afghan government free Taliban prisoners in exchange for the Korean captives.
Fifty minutes after the initial deadline passed, a man who claimed to be a Taliban commander told the Afghan Islamic Express by phone that negotiations had failed completely and they would shortly kill Korean hostages. Ahmadi had earlier told AP, “It might be a man or a woman...We may kill one, we may kill two, we may kill one of each (gender), two of each, four of each,” unless Taliban prisoners were released.
Arabic news channel Al Jazeera reported that Afghan and U.S. forces were gathering near a highway where the Koreans were kidnapped.
Meanwhile, Afghanistan’s President Hamid Karzai is to meet U.S. President George W. Bush at the presidential retreat Camp David on Aug. 5 and 6.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
