No New Face-to-Face Talks Set for Korean Hostages
South Korean officials continued negotiations with Taliban leaders over the phone Tuesday with the hope of freeing the remaining 19 Christian hostages following the release of two women on Monday.
No new face-to-face talks were yet planned, however, the international Red Cross said. But officials were ready to host more talks at the office of the Afghan Red Crescent in Afghanistan's Ghazni province, where the busload of 23 South Korean church volunteers had been abducted nearly a month ago.
"We stand ready to play the role of neutral intermediary for the release of the next 19 hostages and we are urging the two parties to make it a short process in the interest of the hostages," said Franz Rauchenstein, an official with the International Committee of the Red Cross, according to The Associated Press.
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The release of two South Korean women on Monday came after two days of face-to-face talks between the Taliban and a South Korean delegation, and was the first breakthrough in a drama that has made headlines around the world.
Since the abduction of the Korean Christians – the largest abduction of foreigners in Afghanistan since the fall of the Taliban regime in 2001 – two male hostages have been killed. The leader of the aid group, Bae Hyung-kyu, was the first victim, found dead July 25 with 10 bullet holes in his body. The body of the second victim, 29-year-old Shim Sung-min, was found July 30.
The South Korean Foreign Ministry identified the recently freed hostages as 37-year-old Kim Kyung-ja and 32-year-old Kim Ji-na, who were said to be ill to the point where their lives were in danger.
A Korean embassy spokesman said Tuesday that both women were in good condition and they "are staying in a safe place under our protection and are undergoing medical checks."
The spokesperson, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of embassy policy, also reported that they would return to Korea "very soon, but still their flight schedule has not been fixed yet."
According to the Korea Times, the two may return home to South Korea as early as Wednesday.
Meanwhile, the Taliban, which called the release of the two hostages a "goodwill gesture" towards the Korean people and officials, are still demanding a prisoner-hostage exchange for the remaining 19 Koreans. Both Kabul and Washington, however, have remained adamant about not giving into terrorism and stated that the release of Taliban prisoners is not an option.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai was criticized by the United States and other Western countries earlier this year for giving into terrorism after he released five Taliban prisoners in exchange for an Italian reporter in March. Although the Afghan president has vowed that the trade was a one-time deal, critics say the prisoner exchange incident was enough to encourage recent abductions in the country.
With the U.S. and Afghan governments taking a hard-line stance against a prisoner swap, current South Korea-Taliban talks appear to be one of the last hopes.
Ghazni Gov. Marajudin Pathan has suggested that the hostage standoff could be solved with a ransom payment.
Christian Post reporter Michelle Vu in Washington contributed to this report.
