Koreans and Afghans negotiate ahead of captors' deadline
The Taliban has threatened to kill 23 South Korean hostages if a prisoner exchange deal is not reached by 7 p.m. local time.
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Proselytising is illegal in Afghanistan and the Taliban have threatened to kill missionaries who secretly enter the country. Last year the government deported 1,200 South Koreans who flew to Kabul for a "peace parade" that never took place.
Following the abduction, the largest since the fall of the Taliban government, South Korea has forbidden any of its citizens from traveling to Afghanistan and urged the estimated 200 already there to leave. The British Broadcasting Corp. (BBC) reports that those who do not obey the government's new directive can face up to a year in prison or a fine of 3 million won ($3,200).
The Taliban has also called for a withdrawal of all Korean troops. Presently, South Korea has 200 soldiers stationed in Afghanistan who work predominately as engineers and medics. Even before the abduction, the South Koreans had plans to remove their troops from Afghanistan by the end of the year, reports the Yonhap News Agency.
President Roh Moo-hyun went on the air Saturday to appeal for the safe return of the hostages and reaffirm his government's plan to withdraw its contingent of military engineers and medics by the year's end as scheduled.
Roh also noted that the kidnapped were providing medical, educational, and other humanitarian services in Afghanistan.
The Washington Post reports that the discovery of a German hostage's body has added further tension to the situation. The man was one of two Germans and five Afghans kidnapped Wednesday, the day before the Koreans were abducted. The Taliban insists they killed the German, but the circumstances of his death remain unclear.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said her government would not agree to the Taliban's demand that Germany withdraw its troops. "We will not give in to blackmail," she told the German public television network ARD.
The kidnappings, as well as previous cases, have targeted people from countries that have been ambivalent about their commitment to the international military presence in Afghanistan.
The governments of South Korea and Germany have both come under intense domestic political pressure to withdraw from Afghanistan, and South Korea has already announced that it will leave the country by the end of the year.
The Associated Press is tracking any new developments in the story.
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