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The chief presidential secretary for foreign policy Baek Jong-chun, a special envoy of President Roh Moo-hyun, met Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Sunday and delivered a message from the Korean leader. The gist must have been to release Taliban prisoners as the abductors demand. President Karzai took two days before meeting the special envoy from Korea, either because he couldn¡¯t decide how to respond to Korea¡¯s presumed request or because Kabul looked negatively upon the idea of freeing Taliban prisoners.
The plight of the Korean hostages, now in their 12th day of captivity, is getting worse. The Taliban are now threatening, ¡°If they don't release the Taliban prisoners, then the Taliban does not have any option other than to kill the Korean hostages.¡± The Afghan government is saying there would be no other option but to use force if negotiations fail. Meanwhile, the international media has starting criticizing Korean evangelical missions overseas.
It appears that the health and psychological condition of the hostages are reaching their limits. The Taliban are putting female hostages on the phone to the international news media. The tactic is part of their strategy to ratchet up pressure on the Korean government. But hearing the hostages say, ¡°Sometimes they threaten us, they say they're going to kill us one by one and every day. Day by day it is getting very difficult ¡¦ We are all sick and we have a lot of problems,¡± simply makes all of us feel the increasing level of misery they are facing. The pain felt by their families is beyond imagination.
In the present circumstances, it is wrong for Koreans to continue arguing about mistakes the hostages made that led their capture. That is something we can address after the 22 hostages all come home safely. On top of it all, the Korea Muslim Federation reportedly received a bomb threat, prompting the families of the hostages to issue a statement asking Koreans to refrain from drastic measures.
What¡¯s most important at this point is to win the release of all the hostages. This is why the government is exerting all of its efforts even at the risk of damaging its prestige. Emotionally charged actions by Koreans not only help nobody but harm such efforts. What¡¯s needed at this point is reason, not passion.
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