With two South Korean men executed by the Taliban in Afghanistan, 21 young Koreans remained hostage at the two-week point Aug. 2 after the Christian aid workers’ kidnapping July 19.
Two women hostages are critically ill and most of the others are sick, South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency reported Aug. 3.
The two men who have been killed by the Taliban thus far are Bae Hyung-kyu, 42, and Shim Sung-min, 29.
Taliban spokesmen threatened more executions by midnight Aug. 2 if the Afghan government continued to refuse to release Taliban prisoners, Compass Direct News reported, noting that Taliban leaders later stated that no one had been hurt.
The 23-member Korean aid team was traveling on a charter bus from Kandahar to the country’s capital, Kabul, when armed men stopped it July 19 in the Ghazni province’s Qarabagh district.
The volunteers had arrived in Afghanistan July 13 and were scheduled to return home July 23. (BP)
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