Mission life: THE KUKMIN DAILY

U.S. in 2007: “Exchange of Saemmul Church members for Taliban prisoners is not an option”

2016-10-20 15:11

*Cho Jung-pyo, then first vice-minister of the Foreign Affairs Ministry, answers reporters’ questions outside the office of the hostages’ families at Saemmul Church in Bundang, Gyeonggi-do, in late July 2007, following the abduction of the Koreans in Afghanistan. Kukmin Daily DB.


The recently published memoir “Glacier Moves” (Changbi Publishers) by Song Min-soon, a former minister of foreign affairs for the Republic of Korea, reveals the urgent situation at the time of the abduction of Koreans in Afghanistan back in 2007.

On July 19, 2007, the 23 volunteers from Budang Saemmul Community Church were on their way from the capital city of Kabul to Kandahar for service and mission activities when the Taliban captured and held them as hostages. Rev. Bae Hyeong-gyu and Mr. Shim Seong-min were killed on July 25 and July 30 by the Taliban, and the remaining 21 members were released the following August.

Former Foreign Affairs Minister Song describes the circumstances at that time in an eight-page section of his book titled “The Hostage Incident in Afghanistan.” He depicts the urgent moments, starting right after the abduction, when the South Korean government was struggling to save the hostages, using multiple channels with other countries including the United States, Russia, and Saudi Arabia.

Song writes, “At first the Taliban requested, rather than a ransom, the release of their militant members being held in prison. For the release of the hostages, we needed help from the Afghan National Security Forces, whose commander was a U.S. admiral.”

He continues, “U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice firmly denied the request, saying, ‘This issue cannot be solved by exchanging the hostages for prisoners.’ In our telephone conversation, we pleaded for help, repeating ‘Please!’ several times.”

Song also mentions that Gleb Ivashentsov, the Russian ambassador to South Korea, delivered a message to then President Roh Moo-hyun from Russian President Putin expressing willingness to help solve the problem. Song writes in retrospect, “In this process, we requested Russia to play a role for the release of three female hostages whose health was in critical condition. Later, on August 13, two female hostages (Kim Gyeong-ja and Kim Ji-na) were released, and Russia notified us that their intervention had worked. But in fact, this was the result of work by the Korean teams who were dispatched to the site.” Song explained that the three hostages for whom the South Korean government requested Russia for help were different from the two who were actually released.

The former foreign affairs minister met with Saudi King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz, and was on his way to participate in a “Korea-Arab Society” meeting and to meet leaders of Qatar, Abu Dhabi, and Dubai, on August 28 when he heard that all the rest of the hostages had been released.

Next year will mark 10 years since the Afghan Hostages Incident, and there have been many changes, small and large, in the Korean church. The incident provided an opportunity to closely check safety conditions in overseas missions. In 2010, church circles played a major role in forming the Korea Crisis Management Service to provide information and ways to deal with overseas crisis situations, including for missionaries dispatched to foreign countries. In 2012, Saemmul Community Church dedicated a space on the first floor of its church building to the legacy of hostage victims who were martyred.

Reporter Jaechan Park (jeep@kmib.co.kr), with Yeara Ahn-Park (yap@kmib.co.kr)


Original Article in Korean:
美, “샘물교회 성도-탈레반 죄수 맞교환 불가”: 송민순 회고록에 드러난 아프간 피랍사건 막후 스토리

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