Police discovered the body of a second South Korean hostage yesterday slain by the Taliban in central Afghanistan, while relatives of the remaining captives pleaded for the US to help to resolve the crisis.
The Taliban, meanwhile, threatened to kill more hostages if their demands that imprisoned militants be set free were not met by the latest of many deadlines -- by noon today.
The dead man's body, dressed in Western clothing and with glasses, was found on the side of the road at daybreak in the village of Arizo Kalley in Andar District, some 10km west of Ghazni City, said Abdul Rahim Deciwal, the chief administrator in the area.
The South Korean Foreign Ministry identified the victim as 29-year Shim Sung-min, a former information technology worker who volunteered with a South Korean church group on an aid mission to Afghanistan.
A purported Taliban spokesman claimed the militia killed the South Korean hostage on Monday evening because the Afghan government had failed to release imprisoned insurgents.
The victim was wearing white trousers, a blue striped shirt and flip-flops, a reporter said. He appeared to have a gunshot wound to the right temple.
Police lifted the body from the side of the road and put it on a blanket and into the back of a waiting police truck. The victim's face was covered in blood, as was the ground beneath him. Two policemen covered the bloody patches on the roadside with dirt.
Qari Yousef Ahmadi, the Taliban spokesman, said senior Taliban leaders had decided to kill the captive because the government had not met their demands to trade prisoners for the Christian volunteers, who were in their 13th day of captivity yesterday.
"The Kabul and [South] Korean governments are lying and cheating. They did not meet their promise of releasing Taliban prisoners," Ahmadi, who claims to speak for the Taliban, said by telephone from an undisclosed location.
The Taliban commanders set a new deadline of noon today.
"If the Kabul government does not release the Taliban prisoners, then we will kill after 12 o'clock -- we are going to kill the Korean hostages," Ahmadi said. "It might be a man or a woman ... It might be one. It might be two, four. It might be all of them."
The Afghan government said the issue of releasing militant prisoners was not an option.
"We are not going to discuss the details, releasing or not releasing of criminals in exchange for the hostages," said Humayun Hamidzada, spokesman for Afghan President Hamid Karzai. "We are doing everything we can to secure their release."
In South Korea, the dead man's father, Shim Jin-pyo, said his wife collapsed when the family heard their son was the Taliban's latest victim.
The relatives of the hostages appealed for support from the US and the international community to resolve the hostage standoff.
"In particular, the families want the United States to disregard political interests and give more active support to save the 21 innocent lives," said Kim Jung-ja, mother of one of the remaining captives.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique