Nigerian militants claimed responsibility yesterday for kidnapping five South Koreans during an overnight raid on a Daewoo Engineering and Construction Co compound in southern Nigeria.
Six Nigerian army soldiers were also killed in a firefight during the raid, the Movement for the Emancipation for the Niger Delta said in a statement. MEND is the main militant group in Nigeria and has been responsible for a wave of attacks and hostage takings this year in Nigeria's oil-rich southern delta.
Assailants kidnapped five South Koreans and a Nigerian at an oil field in Nigeria on Wednesday, South Korea's Foreign Ministry said, two days after Nigeria's oil minister vowed in Seoul to stop hostage-taking in his country.
The abduction occurred between midnight and 1am local time in Port Harcourt, Nigeria's southern oil hub, the ministry said in a statement.
There were a total of 14 South Korean workers at the site, but the other nine escaped and took shelter at the main control room at the site, the ministry said.
Three of the kidnapped South Koreans are from Daewoo Engineering and Construction Co, and the other two are from the state-invested Korea Gas Corp, the ministry said. The other abductee was a local man, it said.
The government planned to do its utmost to bring the victims home unharmed, the ministry said.
The kidnappings come on the heels of a visit to South Korea this week by Edmund Daukoru, Nigeria's oil minister, to meet with officials in the government and oil industry to promote investment in Nigeria's oil sector.
Daukoru, who is also president of OPEC, told reporters Monday that Nigeria takes seriously a spate of kidnappings of foreign oil workers in the country and would do "everything possible" to stop them.
Nigeria's Embassy in Seoul said it "heard about" the kidnapping but have not been able to confirm it.
Daewoo official Huh Hyun said it appeared money was the motive for the kidnapping and that the company would negotiate with the captors.
The official declined to discuss further details.
On Friday, a group of unidentified militants who were demanding jobs and money kidnapped eight foreign oil workers from an oil platform off Nigeria's southeastern coast. They were released on Sunday.
Unrest has plagued Nigeria's oil-rich southern delta region for years, and in recent months armed militants have stepped up a campaign against the oil industry, blowing up oil pipelines and kidnapping foreign workers.
South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun, on a visit to Africa's largest oil producer in March, signed an energy-cooperation agreement with Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo.
Nigeria's state oil company and the Korean National Oil Company also signed a deal to collaborate in the exploration of two oil fields in the southern oil-rich region.
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was