My other post on this subject got too long with all the updates.
| Associated Press reports that one of the nineteen remaining South Korean Christian hostages being held by the Taliban passed up a chance to go free so that another female hostage who was ill would be released instead.
Lee Jee-young, 32, wrote a note to her parents which was passed on by the two female hostages freed earlier this month. She told her parents that she was faring well, healthy, eating well, and wasn’t sick. |
From India eNews — Seoul denies reports of deal to free hostages in Afghanistan:
| The South Korean government Saturday denied reports that an agreement had been struck to secure the release of 19 of its citizens still held hostage by Taliban militants in Afghanistan.
‘There is officially no deal reached yet,’ state news agency Yonhap and KBS radio quoted a senior official with the South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade as saying. A foreign ministry spokesman meanwhile said press reports of an agreement could not be confirmed, but added that contact with the kidnappers was being maintained and all efforts were being made to secure the release of the 19. KBS had earlier quoted Afghan press reports saying Taliban and South Korean negotiators had reached agreement via Saudi Arabian mediation, and that an official announcement to that effect was to be made Sunday. Reports said the terms of the agreement included a commitment by South Korea to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan within weeks, as well as for all South Korean aid workers to leave the country. |
Original post date: August 25, 2007 @ 08:33
Update 1: Tuesday August 28 @ 06:43
According to Yahoo! News, South Korea says Taliban to free all 19 hostages:
| Taliban insurgents will release 19 South Korean Christian volunteers they have been holding for more than a month in Afghanistan, South Korea’s presidential Blue House said on Tuesday.
The announcement followed the resumption of negotiations which had been on hold for two weeks after the Korean side said it was unable to meet the kidnappers’ chief demand to release Taliban prisoners held by the Afghan government in exchange for the hostages, most of them women. “The Taliban agreed to free the 19 South Korean hostages on the condition that South Korea withdraws its troops within this year and halt missionary activities,” the Blue House statement said. The government had in any case decided before the hostage crisis to pull out its small contingent of engineers and medical staff from Afghanistan by the end of the year. And since the hostages were taken it has banned its nationals from traveling to the war-torn country. |
Update 2: Tuesday August 28 @ 10:10 pm Pacific
Reuters is reporting via Yahoo! News (now 25 minutes ago):
| Taliban say to start freeing Koreans – Yahoo! News
Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan will on Wednesday start releasing 19 South Korean Christian volunteers kidnapped nearly six weeks ago, a representative of the group said. “Our decision is today,” said Qari Mohammad Bashir who was also involved in the talks with a Korean team on the release of the hostages. “We are trying to start the work today.” |
Yeah, sure.
But I do hope so.
Update 3: Thursday 30 August @ 11:29 am Pacific
Taliban frees remaining S. Korean hostages
| Taliban insurgents freed seven remaining South Korean hostages in Afghanistan on Thursday after a six-week kidnap ordeal, following a deal that Afghan officials said included a ransom payment by Seoul. |
