South Korean Missionaries

Timeline

On July 19, 2007, a number of South Korean citizens are reported to have been captured by the Taliban from a public bus traveling in the Ghazni Province, from Kandahar to Kabul, and held hostage.

On July 20 the Taliban demanded that all South Korean forces be withdrawn from Afghanistan within 24 hours and also that Afghan president Hamid Karzai release all Taliban inmates.

On July 21 South Korean president Roh Moo-hyun gave a national televised speech informing the public of the kidnappings. The Taliban reduced its demand to twenty-three Taliban prisoners in exchange for the lives of the hostages.

On July 24 the Taliban demanded a sum of $100,000 in exchange for the right to contact the hostages via phone. The South Korean government refuses.

On July 25 one of the South Korean hostages was executed. South Korea's foreign ministry identified the victim as 42-year-old South Korean pastor Bae Hyeong-gyu, who was the leader of the group.

On July 30 the Taliban extended the deadline for the seventh time by 4 hours to 1130 GMT to give Afghan officials more time to negotiate. A Taliban spokesperson later announced another male hostage had been killed because the government did not cede to the group's demands. This was later confirmed when the body of 29-year-old Shim Seong-min was found in the village of Arzoo (50 miles from where the kidnapping took place).

On August 1 South Korean officials meet with SCG International Risk Kidnap / Ransom consultants at the South Korean Embassy in Washington DC.

On August 1, 1200 GMT, another deadline passed, while the local governor said the Taliban militants have agreed to a face-to-face meeting requested by South Korea's ambassador". North Korea also called for the release of the hostages.

On August 2, 1200 GMT, Korean hostage negotiators agreed to direct talks with Taliban kidnappers in Afghanistan.

On August 10, 1600 GMT, the Taliban began the first round of face-to-face talks with a South Korean team concerning the hostages. The talks were held in an area under the control of the Afghan government in Ghazni province. Two top Taliban leaders and four South Korean officials met at the office of the Afghan Red Crescent in Ghazni, along with four members of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

On August 13, two female hostages were released as a goodwill gesture. The Taliban had originally decided to free Lee Ji-yeong, but she allowed another hostage to take her place.

On August 18, the Taliban announced that the face-to-face talks with the South Koreans had failed and that they were considering the fate of the remaining hostages.

On August 28, a breakthrough in the negotiations was announced with the Taliban agreeing to release the remaining hostages on the condition that South Korea withdraw its two-hundred non-combat troops within the year and suspend missionary work in Afghanistan. Indonesia was a neutral Muslim party in these negotiations.

On August 30, the remaining seven hostages were released, bringing an end to the crisis.

On September 1, South Korean President Roh Moo Hyun called Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to thank them for their help in getting the hostages released. Karzai praised the negotiation of the South Korea government.

In December 2009, the South Korean defence ministry announced the army would return to Afghanistan with 350 troops in 2010 to protect South Korean civilian engineers working on reconstruction. These troops would not engage in any fighting except to protect the aid team and be backed by helicopters, armoured vehicles and an unmanned reconnaissance drone to protect the 100 civilian engineers and 40 police. The South Korean contingent would be based in Parwan province, just north of Kabul for 30 months from July 1, 2010.

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South Korean Missionaries - Timeline