GHAZNI, Afghanistan, 1 August 2007 — Afghanistan’s Taleban set the government a new deadline of noon today to meet its demands in order to save 21 South Koreans, a day after a second hostage was killed.
The hard-line Islamic militia wants the government to free at least eight Taleban prisoners in Afghan jails, a demand government negotiators have rejected.
“If our demands are not met by then, we will start killing the rest of the South Koreans,” Taleban spokesman Yousef Ahmadi told AFP.
The bloodied corpse of the second hostage to be killed since 23 were kidnapped nearly two weeks ago was found early yesterday in the southern province of Ghazni, about 140 kilometers south of Kabul.
The body was dumped in a field just off a main road, with the hands tied and bullet wounds to the head.
South Korea’s Foreign Ministry identified the victim as Shim Sung-min, 29. The country reacted with outrage.
“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,” the presidential office said.
Media reports said Shim had quit his job at a Seoul IT company two months ago to become a teacher to the disabled at a Seoul church which had then sent him to Afghanistan on an aid mission.
The body of pastor Bae Hyung-kyu, 42, who had been leading the group on the mission to the risky south, was found in the same area last Wednesday.
The South Korean government urged the international community to “use flexibility” to save the remaining 21 hostages.
But a spokesman for President Hamid Karzai said the Taleban’s demands should “as a principle” not be accepted as this would only encourage kidnapping.
