UPDATE: Hostage Confirmed Killed, Anti-US Movement Hopes to Capitolize
UPDATE: The body of the Shim Sung-min has been recovered verifying that two hostages have now been killed. With the bodies beginning to pile up the anti-US movement in Korea is moving quickly to capitalize on it with of course the DLP leading the way:
Officials of the labor-friendly minor opposition Democratic Labor Party, including party chief Moon Sung-hyun (C), holds a press conference in front of the U.S. Embassy in Seoul on July 31, demanding that the United States take immediate actions to defuse a Korean hostage crisis in Afghanistan.
As some of you may remember the DLP is the political party that was linked to a North Korean spy group last year that had been using activists groups to push anti-US causes in Korea. This is just the latest cause the DLP is hoping to turn into an anti-US issue. It is an election year and the Korean left is in desperate need of a anti-US issue in order to influence this year’s election.
Of course the Korean government is falling right in line with this thinking by trying to transfer responsibility for the hostage crisis to the United States:
The kidnappers are demanding the release of prisoners in Afghan jails in exchange for Korean nationals. But this demand is not within the power of the Korean government because it doesn’t have any effective means to influence decisions of the Afghan government," said the statement.
"The Korean government strongly condemns and urges an immediate end to these heinous acts of killing innocent people in order to press for demands that it can’t meet… Kidnapping and killing innocent people can’t be justified for any cause."
The statement indirectly urged the United States, which exerts strong influence over the Afghan government, to be more flexible with its traditional policy not to negotiate with terrorists."The government is well aware of how the international community deals with these kinds of abduction cases. But it also believes that it would be worthwhile to use flexibility in the cause of saving the precious lives of those still in captivity and is appealing the international community to do so," said the statement.
The U.S. has reportedly opposed the Taliban’s demand that Kabul swap jailed Taliban insurgents for the Korean hostages.
Last I checked the hostages were Koreans and the Korean government is a sovereign body with the world’s fifth largest army. This whole thing is especially ironic when one considers the Korean government’s attitude the past five years of wanting "independent diplomacy" and a "more equal relationship" with the US, but when it is time to act like a grown up nation it is back to the were the "helpless Korea" diplomacy and America needs to do something. It is really pathetic and I think there is a strong possibility this obvious attempt to transfer responsibility of this crisis to the US and stoke anti-US sentiment will back fire on them.
The Roh Moo-hyun administration is extremely unpopular in Korea and judging by internet chat sites, the Korean public has seen this blame America game one too many times and aren’t readily falling for it this time. The next few weeks is going to be quite interesting to see how this all plays out, but expect the anti-US movement to continue to try and capitolize off this tragedy, digusting but true.
You can read more over at Lost Nomad, Michelle Malkin, & Michael Hurt.
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Taliban Claim to Have Killed Another Hostage
The deadline given by the Taliban has passed last night and this morning news of a second Korean hostage being executed has surfaced:
A purported Taliban spokesman claimed the hardline militia killed a second South Korean hostage Monday because the Afghan government failed to release imprisoned insurgents. Afghan officials said they hadn’t recovered a body and couldn’t confirm the claim.
The Al-Jazeera television network, meanwhile, showed footage that it said was seven female hostages in Afghanistan.
Militant spokesman Qari Yousef Ahmadi said senior Taliban leaders decided to kill the male captive because the government had not met Taliban demands to trade prisoners for the Christian volunteers.
Yonhap is reporting that the executed hostage as 29 year old Shim Sung-min:
The Taliban are saying the Korean government has two more days before they execute the next male hostage. Once they finish killing males hostages they will start killing the females. No matter what you think about the foolishness of this group they don’t deserve to be executed and how anybody couldn’t feel anything but fury at these Taliban thugs is beyond me, but of course leave it to the UN to say they "express concern" over the situation. Where the heck is Ban Ki-moon on this? Why is he keeping silent over this while his fellow counrymen’s bodies are piling up.
While the Taliban is killing hostages the Korean government is continuing their campaign to deflect blame on to the United States:
Calls have been mounting here for Washington to get more involved. Considering Washington’s influence on the Afghan government, many see the United States as playing a critical role in resolving the hostage crisis.
"As an ally, the U.S. must assume a more active role," said Kim Won-woong, an Uri Party member and head of the National Assembly’s unification, foreign affairs and commerce committee. He pointed out that Korea dispatched peacekeeping troops to Afghanistan to support the United States.
How about you dispatch a brigade of ROK special forces to go after and kill these Taliban? If the Afghan government is expected to free 23 Taliban killers than the Korean government should be expected to go and kill them after their released not to mention killing the Taliban that are murdering Korean citizens right now. However, it takes bold leadership and great statemanship to implement such a policy, which are two things the current Korean government greatly lacks. Thus it is easier to blame the US if the hostages die, which is of course nothing new.
I think a presidential candidate right now would be smart to take a strong stand on this issue and demand that President Roh do something besides look weak and indecisive. However, even in the political opposition I don’t see any bold leadership or statemanship coming from them either, thus things are looking worse and worse for these hostages.
You can read a whole lot more over at the Marmot’s Hole and Michelle Malkin.
Hey URI Party A$$holes
the US would not be negotiating with these idiots even americans were held so what give you the idea we would for non-us citizens!
[…] Taliban Claim to Have Killed Another Hostage at ROK Drop on July 31, 2007 at 6:19 […]
I wonder how this stuff really plays out in the Arab street with average Arab families? What are the typical reactions and how strong and how is it different for the different Arab and Muslim nations? I haven't been reading the press much, but I haven't heard anything about a major public outcry against the killings and hostage taking…
If you read the message board over at Al Jazeera you will see many commenters making excuses for the Taliban and blaming the missionaries for being over there trying to convert Muslims.
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/E9A36960-AB5A-43E7-A637-4628328249EB.htm?&choice=3&dgDiscID=176&dgPoolID=44d6675c-5a2d-480b-98a7-93850375218b&loc=10&pagesize=10&group=1
The only thing the Arab Street is taking away from this is that the ROKs are pussies, and are there for the taking.
Unless the ROK delivers a good ass-whipping to somebody over this incident, then no ROK citizen should feel safe travelling anywhere in the Muslim world.
All of this, to include the half-baked efforts of the church to send short-term (read: useless) missionaries to a part of the world where people take their own religion seriously, points to the fact that Koreans really don't understand the off-peninsula world.
The taliban understands violence, and they preach and practice it every damned day. They don't engage in 'constructive diplomacy', they kill whoever they think God is telling them to kill. So forget about the utility of holding hands and singing Kumbaya around the campfire with the taliban. Diplomacy is not something they understand. You would have better luck trying to teach your dog how to program the DVD player while talking to it in Norwegian.
What the taliban does understand is ruthless mayhem, and the last time I checked, the ROK Army had all of the tools to speak with some authority. So the faster the ROK puts away its copy of that "We Are the World" sheet music and pick up another tune, the better. In other words, the taliban is Ted Nugent, and all the ROK's know is Celine Dion.
[…] 2: GI Korea makes a great point: “This whole thing is especially ironic when one considers the Korean government’s […]
It's true that some Korean Christians can be zealots. I've participated in those demonstrations where we use megaphones to preach (shout, is more like it) about Jesus. Admittedly, it's not something I found to be an effective measure to spread the gospel.
But this kind of "in your face" tactic isn't limited to Korean Christians. Just look at the Dok do movement, enough said. I know mainland Koreans are villifying the church and Christianity, but we know better. This is very much a "Korean" issue.
Some rebuke Christians for trying to convert afgan people. And, I realize that is an unlawful activity there. But I'd like to say that spreading the gospel is not an act of coercion, if achieved through debate and presentation of ideas. Christian missionaries (goods ones, anyways) don't subject "heathens" through inquisitions and torture when they refuse to take our faith. They're overly aggressive, perhaps. But we don't blow ourselves up or take anyone hostage for not succumbing to our religion. It is, in fact, radical muslims who still subscribe to middle age religious barbarism, which liberals so readily associate Christians with.
In a free society, a Christian (or followers of other religion) would exercise their right to convert a non christian, as much as a salesman has the right to sell the merits of a vaccum cleaner to a customer. We'd be allowed to assemble or choose our approach to that end. Of course, you must recognize the other side as well.
Afghanistan isn't there yet. By law, there can be no religion other than Islam there. The commenters in the Aljezeera board are upset that the missionaries broke the status quo that wouldn't be allowed to so much as BREATHE under our constitution. They agree with a state with no religious freedom, and they're offended by those who apprarently challenged it? I'm pretty sure the south fought hard against desegregation in yonder years. Technically the Korean missionaries are at fault, of course. But I find some muslims who take the high road over this to be hamstrung. OK, Christians giving out candies to kids in exchange for a minute of praise might be demeaning, but it's not anything a civilized nation couldn't take. Americans make Asses out of themselves all the time, AND EVEN profit out of it, they have the right to do that. No one goes to jail in America for depicting the Virgin Mary with manure.
IT's true that AFG doesn't NEED Jesus, in the sense that evangelizing per se won't offer immediate tangible change. It'd mean that they're willing to accept religious freedom however. If other tenets of freedom that conflict with muslim law are muscled out, and those who come to propose such ideas are lashed out against, who will that country ever escape the dark ages?