Report: The South Korean Christian hostages to be freed
I’ll believe it when they are all back safe and alive, but here’s the news:
Taliban militants in Afghanistan agreed to release 19 South Korean church volunteers held captive since July 19, a spokesman for the insurgents and the South Korean government said Tuesday.
Qari Yousef Ahmadi, a Taliban spokesman, said South Korean and Taliban delegates at face-to-face talks Tuesday in the central town of Ghazni had “reached an agreement” to release the captives.
In Seoul, South Korean presidential spokesman Cheon Ho-sun confirmed a deal was reached.
“We welcome the agreement to release 19 South Koreans,” said Cheon Ho-sun.
No other details on the agreement were immediately available.
The price? No more South Korean Christians in Afghanistan.
Yonhap reports:
“The hostage release agreement was reached after direct talks between Korean and Taliban negotiators from 5:48 p.m. to 7:20 p.m. (Korea Standard Time). The South Korean government welcomes the agreement on the hostage release,” presidential spokesman Cheon Ho-seon said in a press conference.
“The agreement was reached on conditions that South Korea withdraw its troops stationed in Afghanistan by the year’s end and impose a ban on its Christian nationals’ missionary activities in Afghanistan,” Cheon said.
Note:
He said the actual timing for the hostage release can’t be confirmed for now, adding it will be subject to further consultations with the Taliban captors.
AllahPundit notes that the Taliban still have five other hostages–a German and four Afghans last month–that they want to trade for jihadis.
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- Christian South Korean Hostages Will Be Freed After 40 Days « Aggregating the fascinating
- South Korea going the appeasement route | FishDeck
- Bill's Bites
- shyspeak.net
- South Korean Christian Hostages To Be Released « Living Word Church of God
- OneFreeKorea » A Death in the Alliance
- Korean Hostage Crisis Day 41 at ROK Drop
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Fingers crossed, Great News!
And this is a punishment exactly…why? Something tells me South Korea – and any nation – that sens Christians on mission work will hesitate to send them to Afghanistan in the future.
But that does not mean Christian discipleship and prayer cannot convert Muslims.
That’s fine. Make a deal with the Taliban. Get the hostages freed. Let’s get a mutually beneficial agreement.
And then when those South Koreans are out of the country, double back and kill the Taliban who held them.
Tantor,
Sounds like a plan to me!
The Doubtless Price: Worst For All
I too pray for the hostages, and I also pray for the rest of us because I’ve no doubt that the monster was well fed under the table. It is an ugly and thankless thought to sacrifice innocence for the better welfare of others, but we may have to. I recall that one of Winston Churchill’s most agonizing decisions was not giving any warnings to this English town days before V-2s pulverized it so as not to tip off the Nazis that English Intelligence had at long last broken their code and knew the exact targets of the V-2s – and lots of other things. He’d haunting images of children playing in the streets then — blackness. It may be time for all of us to stiffen our upper lip and spines if we’re to starve and kill the monsters over there.
God Help Us.
James Greenidge
Queens NY
Ditto!!
Tantor, since I am often considered a liberal troll here, let me just say that I’m right there with you. Hostage takers can not be tolerated.
Hostage takers can not be tolerated.
Well, nice to see that overthrowing the Taliban has allowed free religious expression to flow all over Afghanistan.
If Korea holds up their end of this deal, the Taliban has struck a HUGE victory. All Korean troops out by December? No more Korean missionaries to Afghanistan ever?
I’m thrilled the hostages are free, but I’m troubled at the cost. Dittos to all the other commenters. This victory for the Taliban was all too easy.
I want the Taliban captured, then executed on video that’s transmitted on Al Jazeera and the web. Some may be inflamed more than they already are, but never discount the fear factor.
Then we are no better than them. Then we become terrorists. The moral high ground has its costs, but it is certainly worth it.
I’m glad that the hostages are free, but I hope that these negotiations will not be bad for other foreign nationals currently in Afghanistan. Terrorists should never be negotiated. Even though South Korea was already planning to withdraw its troops by the end of the year, this is going to be spun into a Taliban victory.
The ramifications of this release will no doubt be felt by other foreign nationals down the road.
The “moral high ground” is a farce, appreciated only by the fringe left and the Europeans. It’s nothing but appearances, a set of rules we follow but no one else does.
Thank God we were more worried about victory than any such shallow notions in WWII.
pgtips, they arent free yet….
Yes, but I’m laboring under the assumption that the Taliban will not change their mind. One can always hope …
Oh dear. First, and most obviously, we had the moral high ground in WWII. We were stopping a full-scale genocide.
And I must disagree with the fringe left and European comment. I mentioned the “higher ground” when someone suggested terrorizing the Taliban. Terrorizing the enemy makes us terrorists. Either you think terror is a legitimate form of battle or it isn’t. To pick the former excuses the USS Cole, 9/11, the Madrid bombings, etc. The last two were incredibly successful in terrorizing the intended target.
So it’s ok if we’re only concerned with victory, but it’s not ok for them? That’s crazy. Fighting with honor may lead to one hand behind our back, but it gives us the moral authority to oppose such cowardly acts as terrorist attacks and hostage takers. Those groups of people need to be stopped. We can’t achieve that if we become them.
No- our actions (their executions) would be the consequences of their choice to murder. They chose to capture civilians. They chose to pump several rounds into the head and chest of an allegedly ill pastor and aide. You want moral high ground? Then the moral imperative is to hunt down the rabid, savage beasts as they are and put them down with the same imperative a park ranger puts down a bear that has become too dangerous for the park.
HHHmmm…
A couple of predator drones with “Hellfire” missiles, add in some excellant night vision technology, track these “humane muslims”, press the launch switch from long range and wholla you have the next video on military.com!
Of course there I can envision some Hornets from CVW-3 (go Gunslingers) with some nice explosive toys doing something very morbidly sinister and approbiate.
“To close for missiles-Switching to Guns!”
I find myself agreeing with Rusty although for totally different reasons I’m sure.
I think that doubling back and ridding the world of these terrorists who have already killed 2 hostages is an excellent idea.
I think that broadcasting it on Al-Jaz-the-all-terrorist-channel is a BAD idea. Because they don’t think the way we do. Instead of thinking ‘hey… look what happened to them, killing hostages is bad’ they think ‘look what the enemy has done to our freedom fighters we must go suicide bomb more school buses’.
I still want them dead. But not on TV.
Rusty #17
“we were stopping a full-scale genocide”
As we are now. Witnessing the fall of the twin towers should remove all doubt Islamists will kill as many as they can. Their hate is mainly toward western countries, but if their own get in the way they are expendable as well. To prevent further infiltration we need to halt any further immigration from groups prefessing Allah and encourage the ones already here to return. They don’t play in the sandbox well with others.
The actions of a handful of men leading to the death of 3,000 Americans does not equal a full-scale genocide. It equals an attack that can’t be tolerated and it’s something we obviously have to defend against.
At the cost of our souls? No.
What some people are advocating here is terrorism against our enemy. If it’s not ok for them (and it isn’t), it’s not ok for us. The whole entire “turn the Middle East into a glass parking lot” or “let’s behead them on camera” suggestions are ridiculous. It makes us the bad guys. It makes us terrorists. It makes no better than the Talibans or Osama bin Ladens.
Patriotism isn’t just supporting America, it’s supporting what America represents. And that includes keeping civilian casualties to a minimum and having the moral high ground.
24klady, I like the way you’re thinkin… comment #22
One can only dream….
Rusty:
Are you seriously hinting that we are not keeping civilian casualties to a minimum?
That’s outrageous! By all accounts and any standard you want to use, civilian casualties caused by American fire is the lowest of any war in history.
The Iraqis are dying at the hands of foreign fighters and their own people – not Americans.
If you want to blame America for causing the casualties, make that argument. But it is pure sophistry to extrapolate from that position the idea that we are killing Iraqis. The facts and history don’t support you.
Rusty, you sound like John McCain. Moral high ground exists with us already because we didn’t ask for the war. But others in your position say we have to treat them as “foreign combatants.” Were you ever in the military? The Geneva Conventions state that any “combatant” caught in active armed agression and not wearing a nation’s uniform is to be considered a spy and can be executed on the spot.
There’s your moral high ground!
No. I am not suggesting that at all. I am merely reacting to the “kill em all” or “turn [Middle Eastern country] into a glass parking lot” attitude that sometimes shows up in these comments. I find these attitudes to be unpatriotic and counter-intuitive to America’s goals.
I honestly believe that America has almost always done its bets to keep civilian casualties to a minimum. Obviously, war is war, and bad things happen. That’s the nature of the beast.
It’ll be a great thing to see those people released, but if this compromise is true, the Taliban got the South Koreans to humiliate themselves to boot. These smelly goatherders must be laughing their heads off (no pun intended) that they kidnapped a bunch of harmless aid workers, murdered two of them, and still got concessions from a foreign government.
Comment #27 was directed towards Rick Moran (#25), btw.
OK, I know Korea does not provide as many guaranteed freedoms as the US, but for them to ban Missionaries to Afghanistan. Is that something they (The Korean Govt) can do?
Tuesday Greetings Mrs. Malkin and loyal community. Have noted with special interest this entry:
To be sure, if you are aware of the gut modus operandi of free Korea’s lame-duck Roh Moo-hyun administration, you could hardly expect another response. They fall over themselves to make unreciprocated concessions to the Kim family regime holding 23 million Koreans in their direct thrall in northern Korea, so the public humiliation, plus any under-the-table ransom paid to the kidnappers and murderers, would be first nature for them. If a Lee Myung-bak administration emerges from Korea’s December elections, it is much to be hoped that they will have within them some measure of the spirit of the stand-tall great heroes from Korean history as Lee Soon-shin and Dae Jo-young.
At our church in Irvine, California, the eucalyptus trees are all wrapped with big yellow ribbons awaiting the release of the missionaries, who if from a another congregation, are yet our true brothers and sisters. May we be guided to learn rightly from this experience, not from corroding bitterness, but still from the Sermon on the Mount.
You know – I hate to say it, but as soon as the prisoners are freed – I hope those Taliban bastards are wiped from the face of this world. And you know what, I think it needs to be publicized. Not the violence or anything, but S. Korea and the rest of the somewhat free world need to make it clear that there is absolutely no tolerance for what these scum have done.
Otherwise – thet’ll do it again.
Rusty,the moral high ground is a myth when talking about religious zealots.Keeping civilian casualties to minimum may be the moral high ground in the Judeo-Christian consciousness,but killing as many civilians as possible is the moral high ground to a jihadi.Nobody(including a savage)will kill himself to kill others without believing he has the moral high ground.That is why they do it,they believe in their way of life just as strongly as you believe in yours.
Some interesting comments all over the board. Ok by me if Korean troops out of Afghanistan by December provided all Taliban out of Afghanistan by December..one way or the other. Moral high ground in WWII? Yes, but Rusty argues from faulty logic & world view. Western civilization was threatened by totalitarian ideology in WWII (same today with islamic jihadist.) During WWII we had the fire bombings of cities in Germany(civilian casualties without number) Abomb in Japan same. Yes hard choices but it stopped the cancer. Now a new and more deadly strain has arisen and it will take the same resolve and likely a costlier price to end it. Sadly the world has been brainwashed by the liberal left that it is better to appease, accomodate and join if necessary to preserve life. This deadly thinking will only work for the cancer that is spreading and the libs will likely be the first to die.
100% agree Rusty. We should ALWAYS take the moral high ground where possible. That is what makes this country great, we should never go down to their level.
How wonderful is this?
Not a glass parking lot…a hole in the ground where Tehran used to be.
I don’t see why you guys are disagreeing with Rusty and picking apart his “moral high ground” argument.
Surely you do not ever want us to descend to the level of the terrorists? We currently have the moral high ground. After all, the terrorists threaten to kill the hostages if their comrades are not released yet have no fear that we will kill their comrades if the hostages are not freed. They are banking on us capitulating because they know we are different from them.
Now some may call this difference a weakness, but this is what separates us from them. They are terrorists. We aren’t. We have the moral high ground and will never stoop to their level.
pg:although I do respect your opinion and Rusty’s,the moral high ground argument is why we are losing.Not that the difference is a weakness we must subdo their actions before we can raise them to our level.As I said before they believe they are on the moral high ground.
It is a good thing that people like me are not in charge of armies.
Changjin89, going to Seoul in October. I’ll kick Roh’s butt for both of us!
Keep praying, they are not free yet.
snausage agreeing with Rusty, who woulda thunk.
Rusty, you had us all with “Tantor…let me just say that I’m right there with you. Hostage takers can not be tolerated.
Add me to the list Tantor.
LOL – If they think they can ban Christian missionary activities, they have another thing coming. That is what being a missionary is about – going where GOD tells you to go. There will be missionaries in Afghanistan as long as there is air to breath. If you consider freedom a worthy cause, our fighting forces are the best “missionaries” ever!
They that give up essential liberty to obtain temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.
Benjamin Franklin
3 of them have just been released. Here
I have been thinking about this and maybe the Taliban is right, the South Korean Govt., should pull out it’s NON Combat troops, out of Afghanistan….and replace them with COMBAT TROOPS. There is a suggestion of Saudi involvement per the release of hostages? The Saudis don’t want Christians in Afghanistan?
The Saudis don’t want christians anywhere.
I heard this morning that 9 were released but the other 11 would be released after South Korea fulfills it’s commitment . . .or until the taliban come up with a new set of demands, which ever comes first.
Wednesday Morning Greetings to Mrs. Malkin and loyal community. By report at this hour, it seems that three batches of hostages have been released today in Afghanistan, a total of twelve of our missionary brothers and sisters now on their way home, with seven more still to be accounted for. Given the disparate locations where they have been held, it should be no surprise if some have been held captive at more remote locations than the others.
In our hope and our joy, we must sooner or later also be cognizant of the price. Part of it, the public humiliation of Korea has already been recognized on this thread. Also, a substantial ransom aspect has been predicted, and further to that Joshua Stanton at One Free Korea noted today’s JoongAng Ilbo article which identified the likely type of ransom the Roh Moo-hyun administration may have arranged: “in the form of Seoul providing financial support to local tribes supporting the Taliban.”
Not only are they Korean missionaries who answer His call, but there are also Korean business people who seek advantage for their firms in a great many countries. It is difficult to avoid the conclusion that Republic of Korea nationals will now be seen as possible lucrative kidnapping targets by criminal combinations in various locales around the world. Surely if the USA’s effort to assist the Afghan government against the Taliban criminals becomes the more difficult and expensive on account of financial support that Taliban-supporting tribes receive from Seoul, a new dark cloud must come over Korean-American relations. The new administration that takes over the Blue House in Seoul in January will have its work set before it if it wishes to dispel such a cloud, and much other damage wrought by the Roh Moo-hyun Administration during their incumbency.