Posted on 09/14/2007 7:07:03 AM PDT by 2banana
Freed Christian Hostages Recount Ordeal
By Eric Young
Christian Post Reporter
The 21 South Koreans held hostage in Afghanistan by the Taliban recounted their six weeks of captivity on Wednesday, revealing the harsh conditions and numerous beatings they endured before being freed nearly two weeks ago.
Je Chang-hee, one of the 23 Koreans kidnapped by the Taliban in Afghanistan, center, shows his clothes during a press conference with other fellow ex-hostages at a hospital in Anyang, south of Seoul, Wednesday, Sept. 12, 2007. They said Wednesday that the insurgents beat and threatened them with bayonets to force them to convert to Islam during their six-week ordeal. Related
"We were beaten with a tree branch or kicked around. Some kidnappers threatened us with death at gunpoint to force us to follow them in chanting their Islamic prayer for conversion," Je Chang-hee told a news conference with 20 other fellow ex-hostages at a hospital south of Seoul, where the Christian volunteers have been receiving medical treatment since they returned home 10 days ago.
Je said he and the others pretended to recite Islamic conversion prayers by muttering some Korean words.
"My group was kept in a closed place like a shed [at a Taliban home] but we were not allowed to go out ... it was like suffocating," recalled Cha Hae-jin.
The female hostage said the food was not suitable and that the captives vomited and suffered diarrhea, with some showing symptoms of dehydration.
"Four of us once had to share two potatoes for one day," she said.
The original group of 23 Korean Christian volunteers – 16 women and 7 men – had been kidnapped by Taliban militants on July 19 while on their way to provide free medical aid to poor Afghans. Over the course of their 40-day captivity, the rebels killed two men and freed two women before releasing the last groups of hostages near the end of August.
At least one of the slain men, Pastor Bae Hyung-kyu, was reportedly killed for refusing to convert.
During the question-and-answer session on Wednesday, the freed hostages told reporters that they were kept together for the first three days of their captivity but were later separated into six different groups, with each group consisting of two to four people. Yu Kyeong-Sik, 55, said they were moved around continuously on motorbikes or on foot.
Je, who served as an English interpreter and engaged in volunteer work at a hospital in Afghanistan, said his group of captives was forced to work.
"We lived like slaves. We had to level the ground for motorbikes, and get water [from a well] and make a fire," Je said, showing the worn-out, dirty short-sleeve shirt and trousers he wore throughout the captivity.
A few of the hostages, however, said they were treated relatively well.
"Some Taliban were friendly, as they asked what our names were and gave us Afghan names. They played with mobile phones and later allowed me to make a telephone call to South Korea so I talked with my husband," said Suh Myung-hwa, 29, whose younger brother, Kyung-seok, 27, was also among the hostages. She also was able to exchange notes with her brother.
Despite their ordeal, the hostages showed no sign of wanting to give up missionary work, though they said they would follow whatever decisions were made following their captivity.
To free the remaining hostages, South Korea had promised to ban Korean missionaries from Afghanistan and pledged to pull out its 210 troops by the end of the year – a move it was already planning to make prior to the hostage crisis.
Furthermore, the hostage crisis has forced Korea’s churches to reflect on their mission works, some of which have been criticized for being “excessively passionate.” South Korea, despite its small size, is the world’s second highest missionary sending country behind the United States.
The East Asian nation, which has seen a dramatic rise in Christianity within just a few decades of the twentieth century, sends one missionary for every 4.2 congregations – placing it 11th in the world, according to Christianity Today (The U.S. does not rank in the top 10.) And of the estimated 17,000 South Korean Christian missionaries that have been sent abroad, many are in volatile regions.
South Korean missionaries are particularly prevalent in 10/40 Window nations that are hostile to Westerners.
"We understand the Christian community is debating that," former hostage Lyu Kyung-sik, said when asked if they would return to trouble spots to do missionary work. "We'll follow the decision."
According to Dr. Park Sang-eun, who has been treating the freed hostages, the group has recovered from physical injuries and was fit enough to go home to their families. He added, however, that the former captives needed more treatment to deal with possible depression and other mental problems.
They were released from a hospital Wednesday and moved to a rehabilitation center.
The forced conversion of others - as dictated by the koran
Over the course of their 40-day captivity, the rebels killed two men and freed two women before releasing the last groups of hostages near the end of August.
At least one of the slain men, Pastor Bae Hyung-kyu, was reportedly killed for refusing to convert.
Death to infidels, especially those that refuse to convert - as dictated by the koran
"We lived like slaves. We had to level the ground for motorbikes, and get water [from a well] and make a fire," Je said, showing the worn-out, dirty short-sleeve shirt and trousers he wore throughout the captivity.
Making infidels slaves - as dictated by the koran
Good question. There are several answers:
(1) They are afraid that their lives are truly meaningless and that they are truly insignificant. By imposing their wills on others, they validate their own power, thereby countering this fear.
(2) They are afraid that they are wrong in their faith. If others convert, even (or rather especially, as dictated by the koran) under duress, that validates their driving philosophy, namely Islam.
(3) They are simply afraid, of life, each other, allah (aka Azazel), their "leaders," US military forces exterminating them, and just about everything else. Scared animals strike out -- that's a lot of what they are doing.
I can understand perfectly why the MSM refuses to cover the story of the freed Christian hostages and their ordeal. After all, how does what they endured even come close to the ordeal endured by the those who were tortured by being forced by evil American soldiers to wear pantyhose on their heads?
Revelation 6:9-11, "And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held: And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellowservants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled."
Revelation 20:4, "And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years."
Another martyr receives his crown in the Kingdom of God.
Christianity: Being killed while trying to bring the damned to the Lord is rewarded by God in Heaven.
Islam: Killing those who won’t convert is rewarded by allah in heaven.
Yup, no difference. /moonbats and MSM
“MSM refuses to cover”
Today’s MSM treatment of non-Muslims reminds me of a charachter in one
of Mark Twain’s book.
The one that said his travel had been delayed due to a boiler explosion
on the steamboat, but remarked that
“Nobody got hurt, it just killed two N-word-s”
excellent point
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