|
The Korean government on Tuesday warned Taliban kidnappers of Koreans in Afghanistan they will be held to account if they continue killing their captives. The statement followed confirmation that the militants murdered a second hostage, a volunteer identified as Shim Sung-min following the death of the Rev. Bae Hyung-kyu. The government also urged the Afghan and U.S. governments to be flexible on the Taliban demand for a prisoner exchange, despite an international principle not to negotiate with terrorists.
"We will not sit idle if there is any more killing of our nationals,¡± Cheong Wa Dae spokesman Cheon Ho-seon said in the statement. ¡°Let us make it clear that we will call them to account by all available means for having killed our nationals." This suggests the government could agree to a military operation on the Taliban base it has so far opposed if the situation gets worse. However, Cheon said there was ¡°no change in our opposition¡± to a military operation.
 |
|
Presidential spokesman Cheon Ho-seon reads a statement at Cheong Wa Dae on Tuesday afternoon on the killing of a second Korean hostage by Taliban kidnappers in Afghanistan./Yonhap
|
 |
|
The Taliban's demand for a prisoner swap, Cheon said, ¡°is not a question that our government can solve, because there is a limit to the ways and means by which we can influence the Afghan government's decision. We strongly denounce the kidnappers for the atrocities of abducting innocent civilians and killing some of them while making demands that we are incapable of meeting. We urge them to stop the atrocities immediately."
However, the spokesman appealed to the Afghan and U.S. governments ¡°from a humanitarian point of view to be flexible in the principles of the international community not to negotiate with terrorists to save civilian lives. We ask the international community to support the efforts to save innocent civilians' lives."
The government apparently felt the need to issue the statement in the wake of the second killing to break through the deadlock in the hostage crisis, which went into its 13th day on Tuesday.
 |
|
The body of Shim Sung-min, 29, one of the South Korean hostages is carried by policemen after he was killed by the Taliban militants in Ghazni province, west of Kabul, Afghanistan on Tuesday. Police in central Afghanistan at daybreak Tuesday discovered the body of a second South Korean hostage slain by the Taliban, officials said. /AP
|
|
|
The statement was the government¡¯s first official confirmation that the Islamist militants are demanding an exchange of hostages for Taliban prisoners. So far, it was reluctant to confirm this for fear that confirmation might put Afghanistan and the U.S., which are holding such prisoners, in a difficult situation. But the government seems to have decided that there is a limit to any more behind-the-scenes negotiations after the special presidential envoy's rescue efforts proved ineffectual and a second hostage was killed.
The threat to hold the kidnappers to account appears premised on a situation where all diplomatic means have failed, in which case the government might agree to a military operation. A Cheong Wa Dae official said, "As long as more than one of our nationals are in their captivity, we know it is difficult to make such a choice. But we can't afford to wait indefinitely. We're working out measures to cope with all kinds of contingencies."
The release of the hostages will not be easy, despite mounting pressure from the international community. But the current negotiation process is proving ineffective, with two captives dead and the rest threatened with murder at a faster pace, according to a purported Taliban spokesman Monday. The latest government statement seems aimed at taking the negotiations into a new phase.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
|
