On July 19, 2007, a group of 23

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

missionaries A missionary is a member of a religious group who is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Thomas Hale 'On Being a Miss ...

were captured and held

hostage A hostage is a person seized by an abductor in order to compel another party, one which places a high value on the liberty, well-being and safety of the person seized—such as a relative, employer, law enforcement, or government—to act, o ...

by members of the

Taliban , leader1_title = Supreme Leader of Afghanistan, Supreme leaders , leader1_name = {{indented plainlist, * Mullah Omar{{Natural Causes{{nbsp(1994–2013) * Akhtar Mansour{{Assassinated (2015–2016) * Hibatullah Akhundzada (2016–present) ...

while passing through

Ghazni Province Ghazni (; ) is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan, located in southeastern Afghanistan. The province contains 19 Districts of Afghanistan, districts, encompassing over a thousand villages and roughly 1.3 million people, making it the 5th most ...

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...

. The group, composed of sixteen women and seven men, was captured while traveling from

Kandahar Kandahar is a city in Afghanistan, located in the south of the country on Arghandab River, at an elevation of . It is Afghanistan's second largest city, after Kabul, with a population of about 614,118 in 2015. It is the capital of Kandahar Pro ...

Kabul Kabul is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. Located in the eastern half of the country, it is also a municipality, forming part of the Kabul Province. The city is divided for administration into #Districts, 22 municipal districts. A ...

by bus on a mission sponsored by the Saemmul

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a historically Reformed Protestant tradition named for its form of church government by representative assemblies of elders, known as "presbyters". Though other Reformed churches are structurally similar, the word ''Pr ...

Church. The crisis began when two local men, who the driver had allowed to board, started shooting to bring the bus to a halt. Over the next month, the hostages were kept in cellars and farmhouses and regularly moved in groups of three to four. The Taliban killed two of the abducted South Koreans, Bae Hyeong-gyu, a 42-year-old South Korean the pastor of Saemmul Church, and Shim Seong-min, a 29-year-old South Korean man, on July 25 and 30, respectively. Later, with negotiations making progress, two women, Kim Gyeong-ja and Kim Ji-na, were released on August 13, and the remaining 19 hostages on August 29 and 30. The release of the hostages was secured with a South Korean promise to withdraw its 200 troops from Afghanistan by the end of 2007. Although the

South Korean government The government of South Korea () is the national government of the Republic of Korea, created by the Constitution of South Korea as the executive, legislative and judicial authority of the republic. The president acts as the head of state and ...

offered no statement, a Taliban spokesman claimed that the militant group also received a

ransom Ransom refers to the practice of holding a prisoner or item to extort money or property to secure their release. It also refers to the sum of money paid by the other party to secure a captive's freedom. When ransom means "payment", the word ...

of US$20 million in exchange for the safety of the captured missionaries.

Negotiations

As South Korea was already scheduled to withdraw its 200 troops by the end of the year, the Taliban's initial demand was only that they hold to this plan, but later also sought the release of 23 Taliban militants from prison in exchange for releasing the abducted South Koreans. The Taliban issued and extended several deadlines for the release of the prisoners, after which they threatened to begin killing the hostages. Freedom for the militants was ruled out when it was apparent the South Korean negotiators could not secure the release of Afghan prisoners, as Afghan president

Hamid Karzai Hamid Karzai (born 24 December 1957) is an Afghan politician who served as the fourth president of Afghanistan from 2002 to 2014, including as the first president of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan from 2004 to 2014. He previously served a ...

had previously faced criticism for freeing five rebel prisoners in exchange for an Italian hostage. Face-to-face meetings between the Taliban and South Korea began on 10 August, resulting in the release of two female hostages, Kim Ji-na and Kim Gyeong-ja, on August 13. However, on August18 , a Taliban spokesman said that the talks had failed and the fate of the hostages was being considered.

Release

The freedom of the remaining nineteen hostages (fourteen women and five men) was secured on August 28 with the participation of

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

as a neutral country. They were eventually released on August 29 and 30. After the release, a Taliban official announced that South Korea had paid the Taliban more than US$20 million in

for the lives of the hostages. However, South Korea stated that they have made a promise with the Taliban that they would not make any statements about the ransom.

Response

Public gatherings were held in South Korea during the capture to pray for the safety of the hostages. Muslims residing in South Korea also expressed their grief regarding the incident and stated that the acts of the Taliban were against the principles of Islam. Many South Koreans nevertheless held numerous protests and demonstrations outside the Seoul Central Mosque. On the other hand, many South Koreans were critical of the hostages, as the hostages were conducting Christian missionary service in Islamic Afghanistan despite the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade's repeated warnings that Taliban had plans to kidnap South Koreans in order to free imprisoned militants. Among those criticising the deal from the government as setting a dangerous precedent were the bishop of

Daejeon Daejeon (; ) is South Korea's list of cities in South Korea, fifth-largest metropolis, with a population of nearly 1.5 million. Located in a central lowland valley between the Sobaek Mountains and the Geum River, the city is known both as a ...

and chairman of Korea Caritas Lazarus You Heung-sik.

List of hostages

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:South Korean hostage crisis 2007 murders in Afghanistan Foreign hostages in Afghanistan 2007 in South Korea South Korean people taken hostage Hostage taking in Afghanistan Terrorist incidents in Afghanistan in 2007 Afghanistan–South Korea relations History of Ghazni Province July 2007 in Afghanistan War crimes in the War in Afghanistan (2001–2021) 2007 in the War in Afghanistan (2001–2021)

Negotiations

Release

Response

List of hostages

See also

References