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S Korea sends senior diplomat to Afghanistan

South Korea yesterday bitterly denounced the killing of one of its hostages by the Taliban in Afghanistan and said it was sending a senior presidential envoy to try to save the 22 remaining captives.

"Along with the Korean people, the government strongly protests their act of brutality in killing an innocent civilian," a statement from the office of South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun said.

"The [South] Korean government clearly states that the organization responsible for the abduction will be held accountable for taking the life of a [South] Korean citizen," it said. "The killing of an innocent citizen cannot be justified under any circumstance or for any reason, and any such inhumane act cannot be tolerated."

The foreign ministry identified the victim as Bae Hyung-kyu, pastor of the Saem-Mul Presbyterian church and leader of the group of young aid workers -- mostly women -- who were seized on July 19.

Bae, who was killed on his 42nd birthday, cofounded the church in 1998 and has a nine-year-old daughter. He had done volunteer work in Bangladesh and planned to visit Africa to help the poor after the Afghanistan mission.

The government said Baek Jong-chun, chief presidential secretary for foreign and security policy, left yesterday for Afghanistan as a special presidential envoy.

But it remained opposed to any military rescue.

"The government still has an objection to that," presidential spokesman Cheon Ho-seon said, adding that no raid would be launched without Seoul's approval.

The South Koreans, in their 20s and 30s, were seized while en route from Kandahar to Kabul by bus. They were to provide free medical services in the war-torn country.

Spokesmen for the Taliban have demanded the release of their own captives in exchange for the South Koreans.

Hope turned to grief late on Wednesday for more than 1,000 people who gathered at the Saem-Mul church in Bundang just south of Seoul for an overnight prayer vigil.

First came an unconfirmed report, later denied by Afghan and South Korean officials, that eight hostages had been freed.

The Taliban's announcement of Bae's killing was then confirmed.

In the southern island of Jeju the victim's mother, Lee Chang-suk, 68, burst into tears at a church where she had spent the night in prayer when official confirmation came through.

The grief-stricken father, Bae Ho-jung, 72, rested his head on a bible on hearing the news at the church.

Meanwhile, a Taliban spokesman said yesterday that the group had not killed the remaining 22 volunteers held hostage despite a deadline passing.

"They are safe and alive," Taliban spokesman Qari Mohammad Yousuf said by telephone from an undisclosed location.

The Afghan government, he said, "has given us hope for a peaceful settlement of the issue."
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