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The Korean hostage negotiator in talks with the Taliban kidnappers, whose identity is not known.
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Right after Korean negotiators and Taliban reached an agreement to release all Korean hostages, one Korean representative was caught on camera apparently trying to conceal his identity with dark sunglasses. The unidentified representative gave press interviews standing next to a Taliban representative and even put his arm around Taliban negotiator¡¯s shoulders. It is unprecedented for a representative in talks with a terrorist group to pose for a photo op.
The Korean government is keeping its lips tightly sealed about the representative¡¯s identity. A Foreign Ministry official said Thursday he was ¡°a special negotiator from another organization, not from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade.¡±
The representative is likely to be a member of National Intelligence Service. The NIS did not deny the suggestion, saying, ¡°Some NIS members also went to Afghanistan and helped the negotiation with Taliban.¡± Another insider said, ¡°The representative is a negotiation specialist highly proficient in English and is well acquainted with local Afghan affairs and Islamic culture.¡± In 2005, the NIS opened the Terrorism Information Integration Center (TIIC), which aims at detecting signs of imminent terrorist attacks and formulating responses and began nurturing specialists in negotiation with terrorists.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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