Hostage Video Ignites Protest in S. Korea

Washington Post ^ | 6-22-04 | Anthony Faiola and Joohee Cho

[Indy Pendance]

SEOUL, June 21 -- Jolted by video footage showing one of their countrymen being held in Iraq by kidnappers threatening to behead him, hundreds of South Koreans joined candlelight vigils and prayer groups Monday while the government scrambled to negotiate the hostage's release.

In the video, first broadcast Sunday by the Arabic satellite TV network al-Jazeera and rerun countless times here Monday, Kim Sun Il, 33, screamed for his life while his hooded, armed captors demanded that South Korea quit the international military coalition in Iraq. The video was released three days after the government had finalized plans to begin deploying its main contingent of 3,000 troops there this summer.

The kidnappers gave South Korea 24 hours from sunset Sunday to agree; otherwise, they said they would "send to you the head of this Korean."

After an urgent cabinet meeting, South Korean leaders rejected the demand and dispatched an emergency diplomatic mission to Jordan in an attempt to win Kim's release.

[hole_n_one]

[Brad’s Gramma]

Is English their first language? Or is this, again, staged for the press?

[BJungNan]

And they will come for you next you fools. Not just one of your countryman. Maybe not right away, but eventually. Koreans, of all people, should know this.

[Walkingfeather]

Fools. North Korea has got to be loving this....

[Dr. Eckleburg]

Looks like the NY Times editorial staff on their lunch-break.

[hole_n_one]

I'm looking for a tiny MoveOn.org addy at the bottom......

[B4Ranch]

I saw this crumb on the news tonight and he was actually screaming for his wife and anyone else who could help.

A real man. /sarcasm

[TheMightyQuinn]

Amazing that they don't protest against the terrorists, but they protest against those that are there to kill the terrorists.

[dc-zoo]

I hope his head isn't on a FedEx Express deilivery to S. Korea.

[Polybius]

Amazing that they don't protest against the terrorists, but they protest against those that are there to kill the terrorists.

Which is exactly why the terrorists are going to kill him.

[Blue Jays]

Good Evening All-

So what does it take for peace-loving societies to be pushed over the edge from being terrorized to stone-jawed determination?

The al Qaeda punks are going to target a group someday that doesn't particularly care about "sound bites" and they're going to meet the Grim Reaper in short order. Methinks the Chinese probably wouldn't stand for too much of this nonsense before killing a whole bunch of Jihadists.

Hopefully any remaining American businesspeople are traveling in groups, personally armed, and using a security force for extra protection.

~ Blue Jays ~

[Calvinist_Dark_Lord]

Looks like the NY Times editorial staff on their lunch-break.

Did you ever see the studies that suggest that the student Anti-gov protests in Korea always seemed to coincide with finals week? Of course there were some N. Korean agitators in the crowd to stir things up.

Al Qaeda may soon be finding out that the ROK are the wrong people to piss off. When you get time Doc, read about the 'adventures' of the Korean Capitol Division in Vietnam. They were probably the most effective large unit there during the war. They have a decidedly different approach than do Americans. Living with a madman to your north with an army of Millions will adjust your thinking quickly.

[jnarcus]

Cowards turn and run....And unfortunately it may be too late anyway since the deadline has passed. I hope our special ops guys are hunting Zarqawai with a vengence...

[jnarcus]

Hey I don't blame him..he's a civilian and in a scary situation. Is he as brave as the Italian? Nope not at all but I sure haven't a clue how I would react...I hope I wouldn't cry and scream but I sure wouldn't guarantee it either. Most of us aren't very brave when death stares us in the eyes

[The_Macallan]

Unbelievable how cowardly those protesters are!

Is that all it takes now?

Is THAT how easily your nation's foreign policy can be taken control of by foreigners?

All someone has to do is kidnap one of your countrymen and suddenly you will let THEM decide your military deployments, let THEM dictate how you will handle your foreign affairs and let THEM determine your national interests?

You cowards will so easily give up your hard-fought sovereignty as a free nation to a gang of two-bit THUGS the other side of the planet who kidnap an innocent man and hold your entire government hostage???

They are despicible traitors to their own people.

They are pissing on the graves of so many of their own people who fought so hard to protect their freedom and THIS is how they honor those who died to keep South Korea free - they let a band of murderous jackals hijack the entire South Korean military, take control of the gov't and dictate when and where South Korea will deploy its military - all by simply holding a knife to the throat of one of their citizens!?

It is now so crystalline-clear that, because of how deep the Leftist/Pacifist movement has infiltrated the Media and Academia in every "democratic" country on earth...

No "Free" Nation Will Ever Win Any War Ever Again!

At least not until the suicidally-demented radical leftists are eradicated from their positions of power in the propaganda-mills of the press and the corrosive halls of academia.

---

It's Not Just A Gun...

It's My "HOMELAND DEFENSE RIFLE"!!

[walford]

...Al Qaeda may soon be finding out that the ROK are the wrong people to piss off…

That may have been true at one time. Indeed, there was a time when you didn’t want to anger the Japanese or German people either. Now they are all too eager to join the Spanish in rewarding terrorism.  I asked Gen. Singlaub about this last September:

Singlaub was asked if the South Korean people are ambivalent toward possible danger from the north. "They are not ambivalent," he offered. Grandparents are still around to tell of how devastating the Korean War was, so there is a distinct motivation to avoid another conflict. Further, he added, the North Koreans periodically engage in such tactics as sending a warplane straight for Seoul and breaking off at the last second. Such activities alert national defenses and send civilians into bomb shelters. [Air raid drills are a part of life in parts of Korea to this day.] Thus, Singlaub continued, some South Koreans today consider passive acquiescence to a possible communist takeover better than risking war to resist it [Better Red Than Dead].

The South Koreans have been successfully traumatized to the point of being ready to cave to anyone willing to threaten bloodshed -- the very object of terrorism. Check this quote from George Orwell from a thread about Michael Moore’s latest bit of tripe: 

The majority of pacifists either belong to obscure religious sects or are simply humanitarians who object to taking life and prefer not to follow their thoughts beyond that point. But there is a minority of intellectual pacifists, whose real though unacknowledged motive appears to be hatred of western democracy and admiration for totalitarianism.

The only people who are relatively safe from terrorism are those from tyrannical regimes. That is because they have no qualms about using force, will readily accept heavy losses on their side and have no concerns of public opinion.

[Saundra Duffy]

Let's roll . . .

[Skooz]

I wouldn't be so quick to condemn the entire South Korean nation for the acts of a few cowards.

I hope they send Tiger Division to Iraq. The terrorists won't know what hit them.

[wtc911]

I saw this crumb on the news tonight and he was actually screaming for his wife and anyone else who could help. A real man. /sarcasm

-----------------------------------------------------

You are sitting where? Some cozy hole safe from the butcher's knife. This guy knows they're going to saw his throat clean through and all you can come up with is pissing on his manhood, anonymously at that.

Pathetic.