South Korea has begun preparations to pull its troops out of Afghanistan by the end of this year as scheduled, officials said yesterday, amid a purported offer from the Taliban to swap 23 South Korean hostages for imprisoned Taliban fighters.
The militant group had said it would kill the South Koreans on Saturday if Seoul didn't withdraw its troops from Afghanistan. But it later changed that demand, saying the Afghan and South Korean governments had until 7pm yesterday to agree to the release of 23 Taliban militants or the hostages would be killed.
South Korea has about 200 troops serving with the 8,000-strong US-led coalition in Afghanistan and largely work on humanitarian projects such as medical assistance and reconstruction work.
The South Korean government informed parliament late last year that it would terminate its military mission in Afghanistan before the end of this year. Overseas troop deployments and their withdrawal need parliamentary approval.
South Korea "has already kicked off preparations as it takes about five to six months," to bring home troops, a top Defense Ministry official told several lawmakers, said Kim Sung-gon, chief of the parliamentary defense committee.
The Defense Ministry confirmed the comments but stressed that the process had begun well before the Taliban demanded the withdrawal of South Korean troops from the war-ravaged country.
South Korean troops run a hospital for Afghan civilians at the US base at Bagram, and the facility has treated more than 240,000 patients.
However, relatives of the kidnap victims urged the government to immediately move forward its plan, noting Seoul had already decided to bring its soldiers home by end of this year.
Meanwhile, discussing claims by Taliban rebels that they had killed two German hostages on Saturday, the German foreign minister said one of the hostages was still alive and that the other had died from "stress and strain."
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier told reporters in Berlin there had been a lot conflicting information about the fate of the hostages, both civil engineers working on a dam project, but that analysis suggested one hostage was alive.
"We have to assume that one of the two hostages died while being held hostage and all indications are that he was not murdered, but that he died of stress and strain ... we will do everything possible to save the life of the second hostage," Steinmeier said
The Bild am Sonntag newspaper quoted unnamed government sources as saying German authorities had seen the body of the engineer and it had gunshot wounds.
The same newspaper quoted German government sources as saying that Taliban Yousuf, who had made the announcement about the executions, did not speak for the hostage takers. German intelligence sources told Bild that the spokesman had nothing to do with the kidnappers.
"He may be someone trying to take advantage of the situation," Bild said.
FREEDOM OF NAVIGATION: The UK would continue to reinforce ties with Taiwan ‘in a wide range of areas’ as a part of a ‘strong unofficial relationship,’ a paper said The UK plans to conduct more freedom of navigation operations in the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea, British Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs David Lammy told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. British Member of Parliament Desmond Swayne said that the Royal Navy’s HMS Spey had passed through the Taiwan Strait “in pursuit of vital international freedom of navigation in the South China Sea.” Swayne asked Lammy whether he agreed that it was “proper and lawful” to do so, and if the UK would continue to carry out similar operations. Lammy replied “yes” to both questions. The
‘OF COURSE A COUNTRY’: The president outlined that Taiwan has all the necessary features of a nation, including citizens, land, government and sovereignty President William Lai (賴清德) discussed the meaning of “nation” during a speech in New Taipei City last night, emphasizing that Taiwan is a country as he condemned China’s misinterpretation of UN Resolution 2758. The speech was the first in a series of 10 that Lai is scheduled to give across Taiwan. It is the responsibility of Taiwanese citizens to stand united to defend their national sovereignty, democracy, liberty, way of life and the future of the next generation, Lai said. This is the most important legacy the people of this era could pass on to future generations, he said. Lai went on to discuss
AMENDMENT: Climate change is expected to increase the frequency of high-temperature days, affecting economic productivity and public health, experts said The Central Weather Administration (CWA) is considering amending the Meteorological Act (氣象法) to classify “high temperatures” as “hazardous weather,” providing a legal basis for work or school closures due to extreme heat. CWA Administrator Lu Kuo-chen (呂國臣) yesterday said the agency plans to submit the proposed amendments to the Executive Yuan for review in the fourth quarter this year. The CWA has been monitoring high-temperature trends for an extended period, and the agency contributes scientific data to the recently established High Temperature Response Alliance led by the Ministry of Environment, Lu said. The data include temperature, humidity, radiation intensity and ambient wind,
SECOND SPEECH: All political parties should work together to defend democracy, protect Taiwan and resist the CCP, despite their differences, the president said President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday discussed how pro-Taiwan and pro-Republic of China (ROC) groups can agree to maintain solidarity on the issue of protecting Taiwan and resisting the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The talk, delivered last night at Taoyuan’s Hakka Youth Association, was the second in a series of 10 that Lai is scheduled to give across Taiwan. Citing Taiwanese democracy pioneer Chiang Wei-shui’s (蔣渭水) slogan that solidarity brings strength, Lai said it was a call for political parties to find consensus amid disagreements on behalf of bettering the nation. All political parties should work together to defend democracy, protect Taiwan and resist