Free Republic

We are asking prayer for safety,well-being and release of the Korean hostages from Taliban terrorists. 2-3 of the hostages have been murdered! Negotiations for release are political, so the process is slow and painful. Please pray for families involved waiting for their loved ones. Thank You for your prayerful support. Hebrews 13:3..Remember the prisoners as if chained with them, and those who are mistreated, since you yourselves are in the body also.

Hostage Group Returns to Korea to Relieved Relatives and Angry Critics Nineteen South Korean aid workers, held hostage by the Taliban for 42 days, returned home early Sunday morning to a mixture of sorrow, relief and anger. The members of The Saemmul Church missionary group ignored their government's warning not to travel to Afghanistan. Two of the male hostages were killed and there were reports that some of the women had been raped. While they were being held in Afghanistan, there was little open criticism of the missionaries, some of whom were killed. But now that they are safely home,...

Taleban militants vowed to abduct more foreigners after ending a six-week hostage drama by releasing the last seven of a group of kidnapped South Koreans under a deal with the Seoul government. We will do the same thing with the other allies in Afghanistan, because we found this way to be successful,’ Taleban spokesman Qari Yousef Ahmadi told the Associated Press via cell phone from an undisclosed location. The seven hostages were handed over Thursday to the International Committee of the Red Cross in two separate exchanges close to the central Afghan city of Ghazni, Red Cross officials and an...

Taliban free all Korean hostages Critics say Seoul may have set a dangerous precedent by dealing with the Taliban [Reuters] The Taliban's last three South Korean hostages have been handed over to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) after six weeks in captivity. The man and two women were in a Red Cross vehicle being driven to the town of Ghazni, Irfan Sulejmani, an ICRC official, said late on Thursday. Earlier in the day, the Taliban had released four South Korean hostages. Two men and two women were delivered to ICRC representatives by tribal mediators on a road...

Hostage Families Reject Anti-American RalliesThe families of the Korean hostages spoke out against a movement to hold the U.S. responsible for the unresolved crisis, saying anti-American demonstrations could put the hostages' lives at greater risk. The families turned down an offer by some anti-American organizations to stage a candlelight rally. Lee Jeong-hoon, a representative of the families, said on Thursday, "Since an anti-American demonstration could have a negative influence on the negotiations for the release of the hostages, we have made efforts to avoid being involved in any such demonstrations." "An anti-American movement could be what the Taliban want," Lee...

I was just watching CNN and the perky Heidi Collins reported a supposed rescue operation by Afghan soldiers to rescue Korean Christians.

An operation aimed at rescuing the remaining 21 Korean hostages held by the Taliban began on Wednesday in Afghanistan's Ghazni province, a provincial official said, hours after the expiry of another Taliban deadline. "The operation has started," said Khowja Seddiqi, the district chief of Ghazni's Qarabagh district, where the Taliban kidnapped 23 Korean Christian volunteers nearly two weeks ago. He did not give more details or say who was involved.

The blood of innocent Christian missionaries spills on Afghan sands. The world watches and yawns. The United Nations offers nothing more than a formal expression of "concern." Where is the global uproar over the human rights abuses unfolding before our eyes? For two weeks, a group of South Korean Christians has been held hostage by Taliban thugs in Afghanistan. This is the largest group of foreign hostages taken in Afghanistan since Operation Enduring Freedom began in 2001. What was their offense? Were they smuggling arms into the country? No. Inciting violence? No. They were peaceful believers in Christ on short-term...

/begin my summary Talibans Moved Three S. Korean Hostages to paktika Province Bordering Pakistan Japan's Asahi Shimbun reported in its afternoon dispatch of Aug. 2 that Talibans moved three female S. Korean hostages from Karabag(sp ?), Ghazni Province, to a location in paktika Province, which is 40 km away, in the afternoon of Aug. 1, quoting a Taliban member who guarded hostages. The Tablian member is the one who guarded four hostages, including Shim Sung-min, who was killed later. During our telephone-interview Jul. 29, Lee Ji-young said she is with two other female hostages, Kim Kyung-ja and Kim Jina,...

The blood of innocent Christian missionaries spills on Afghan sands. The world watches and yawns. The United Nations offers nothing more than a formal expression of "concern." Where is the global uproar over the human rights abuses unfolding before our eyes? For two weeks, a group of South Korean Christians has been held hostage by Taliban thugs in Afghanistan. This is the largest group of foreign hostages taken in Afghanistan since Operation Enduring Freedom began in 2001. What was their offense? Were they smuggling arms into the country? No. Inciting violence? No. They were peaceful believers in Christ on short-term...