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| China-Japan-Koreas |
| South Korea balks at hostage hard line |
| 2007-07-26 |
| Posted by:ryuge |
| #6 NPR interviewed a gentleman this morning who is related by marriage on his wife's side to the missionary leading the group. Apparently the missionary is returning for the third year in a row to this particular project, and this time decided to bring a group of church ladies with him. According to the gentleman, missionary work is very popular in South Korea, which is second only to the U.S. in the number of missionaries sent abroad, and the Koreans are more likely to go to out of the way corners of the world... like southern Afghanistan, where the group was going to restock a school and infirmary (or something like that) which was said missionary's pet project. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2007-07-26 22:10 |
| #5 They're blaming Uncle Sam, as usual. I suspect the Koreans will just wire the required ransom to a numbered account, following which the hostages will be released. And the Taliban will have enough money to fight on for another 20 years. Then again, what can you expect from the Koreans? |
| Posted by: Zhang Fei 2007-07-26 21:49 |
| #4 Well, I at least hope they get a discount because of the "bullet riddled" dead guy... What the hell were these people doing over there anyways? Christian missionaires in the belly of the beast in the middle of a war? It's nice to have your beliefs but not at the cost of your common sense...or maybe your life. |
| Posted by: tu3031 2007-07-26 12:36 |
| #3 Nah, the mood isn't against the Taliban, it's against the US, of course. Korea, just cave in already and pay $100 million to free the hostages, it's what you're going to do anyway. Of course, they could just ship an equivalent amount of arms to the Taliban instead, it would save everyone a lot of effort and avoid enriching the ISI. |
| Posted by: gromky 2007-07-26 12:09 |
| #2 I hope that somehow the mood on the Korean street is changed so that the public perception is of deep humiliation over the hostages. Humiliation that turns to dark thoughts of vengeance directed at the Taliban leaders in Quetta. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2007-07-26 10:59 |
| #1 SK used to have some pretty darned good Special Forces operatives. Might be a good idea to send them to Afghanistan to replace the doctors and engineers. Paying big ransoms is a really bad idea (unless it is temporarily delivered by said spec ops.) |
| Posted by: Glenmore 2007-07-26 09:48 |