Seoul, Washington rules out military action to rescue hostages in Afghanistan

Posted on : 2007-08-02 11:26 KST Modified on : 2019-10-19 20:29 KST

South Korea and the United States Thursday agreed to rule out military action to save the lives of 21 South Korean hostages in Afghanistan, South Korean Foreign Minister Song Min-soon said, amid reports of an imminent military operation against the Taliban in the war-ravaged country.

"South Korea and the United States agreed to rule out any military actions," Song told reporters after bilateral talks with U.S. Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte. The Song-Negroponte meeting was held on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Regional Forum, the largest regional conference in Asia that also brought together the foreign ministers of Japan, China and Russia.

Song also said he and Negroponte agreed that they will continue to work for the safe release of the hostages.

The meeting came after two of 23 South Koreans taken hostage on July 19 have been killed amid stalled negotiations between the Afghan government and the Taliban, which wants to trade the remaining South Korean hostages for at least eight Taliban prisoners.

The United States, leading the multinational International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan, is said to be holding some of the prisoners the militants are demanding to be freed.

But Washington has been reluctant to make a prisoner-for-hostage deal with the Taliban, whom they believe are linked to the international terrorist group Al-Qaeda.

Kabul, apparently mindful of the U.S. opposition, has also ruled out the possibility of a swap. The Afghan government released five Taliban prisoners earlier this year in exchange for an Italian journalist. Afghan President Hamid Karzai later vowed not to make another deal with the Taliban after being roundly criticized for making the exchange.

"The United States is in no position to say definitely that it can resolve the situation, but it definitely is one of the countries that can help," Song told Yonhap News Agency Wednesday while en route to the Philippines for the regional security conference.

The South Koreans, including 16 women in their 20s and 30s, were seized at gunpoint while traveling to the southern Afghan city of Kandahar from Kabul. The first hostage killed, 42-year-old team leader Bae Hyung-kyu, was found shot dead last Wednesday. His body was shipped back to South Korea on Monday. The body of the second killed hostage, Shim Sung-min, was to arrive in Seoul later Thursday.

Cheon Ho-seon, a spokesman for South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun, strongly denounced the militant group Tuesday for killing the 29-year-old Shim the previous day, saying the Taliban are asking for what is beyond Seoul's reach.

Song, speaking to Yonhap News Agency on his flight here Wednesday, said he will try to hold as many meetings as possible with his counterparts from Islamic countries during his two-day visit to Manila.

"The most important thing now is to make sure no other hostages are killed. So the important thing is to let the kidnappers know through all available means that they too have nothing to gain by killing additional hostages," he said.

The South Korean foreign minister is scheduled to hold a one-on-one meeting with his Pakistani counterpart later Thursday and is expected to informally speak with his counterparts from other Islamic countries on the sidelines of the ARF ministerial talks, according to his aides. By Byun Duk-kun MANILA, Aug. 2 (Yonhap News)