View images chronicling the state of the country today, five years after the U.S.-led war.
Aug. 28: U.N. Executive Director of the Office of Drugs and Crimes Antonio Maria Costa warns of a situation out of control in Afghanistan.
GHAZNI, Afghanistan - South Korea and relatives of 21 kidnapped Koreans appealed for U.S. help Tuesday, but Afghanistan said for the first time it will not release insurgent prisoners — the Taliban’s key demand to free the captives.
Afghan police found the body of the second hostage slain since the Christian church group was seized nearly two weeks ago; the group’s pastor was killed last week.
A purported Taliban spokesman, meanwhile, said some of the prisoners the militants want released are held at the U.S. base at Begrime — and the Al-Jazeera television network broadcast a video Tuesday reportedly of another Taliban captive, a German engineer.
Story continues below ↓ advertisement advertisement
The Taliban said more Koreans will die if its demands are not met by midday Wednesday. The militants have extended several previous deadlines without consequences, but killed 29-year-old Shim Sung-min on Monday after a deadline passed. His body, with a gunshot wound to the head, was found along a road in Andar district.
They were two of 23 South Koreans — 16 women and seven men — kidnapped while riding a bus July 19 on the Kabul-Kandahar highway. They are the largest group of foreign hostages taken in Afghanistan since the 2001 U.S.-led invasion that drove the Taliban from power.
Some blame the U.S.
In South Korea, relatives and a civic group pleaded for more U.S. involvement, and the president’s office used more diplomatic language to prod the Americans.
“The government is well aware of how the international community deals with these kinds of abduction cases,” the president’s office said, an apparent reference to the U.S. policy of not negotiating with terrorists. “But it also believes that it would be worthwhile to use flexibility in the cause of saving the precious lives of those still in captivity.”
The civic group People’s Solidarity for Participatory Democracy questioned what South Korea had earned for helping Washington combat terrorism. Seoul has sent troops to Afghanistan and Iraq.
State Department spokesman Tom Casey said there is regular contact between U.S. and South Korean officials on the standoff, but would not comment on specifics.
President Hamid Karzai’s spokesman said officials were doing “everything we can” to secure the hostages’ release, but that freeing militant prisoners was not an option.
“As a principle, we shouldn’t encourage kidnapping by accepting their demands,” said government spokesman Humayun Hamidzada.
Un portavoz de Talibán declaró que un rehén surcoreano ha sido ejecutado luego de que llegara a un término el plazo establecido para que el gobierno afgano cumpliera las demandas del grupo insurgente.

"Disparamos un cautivo hombre porque el gobierno no escucha nuestras demandas", dijo Qari Mohammad Yousuf, un portavoz del grupo, a ''Reuters'' por teléfono. "Matamos a uno de los rehenes hombres a las 6:30 de esta noche porque Kabul no escuchó nuestras repetidas demandas", continuó.

La ''AFP'' citó a un portavoz de Talibán diciendo: "Finalmente hoy a la noche a las 8:30 matamos a uno de los coreanos llamado Sung Sin con un disparo de una AK-47". Aún no hay explicación de la discrepancia de 2 horas.

Yousuf indicó que el Talibán ha amenazado en matar a más rehenes si no se cumplen sus demandas por la liberación de prisioneros de Talibán. Aún no se ha fijado un nuevo ultimátum. Yousuf comentó a ''Reuters'' que el cuerpo de Sung Sin fue arrojado al costado de una ruta. El Talibán también demandó la retirada de las tropas surcoreanas de Afganistán.

Si se confirma la muerte, Sung Sin sería el segundo rehén surcoreano en ser matado por el Talibán desde la captura en la provincia de Gazni de los 23 misioneros cristianos el 19 de julio. El 25 de julio, el Talibán mató a Bae Hyung-kyu, un pastor de 42 años y líder del grupo. Su cuerpo fue encontrado en el área desértica de la provincia de Gazni.

El Gobernador de Gazni, Marajudin Pathan, declaró que los oficiales estaban al tanto de los asesinatos de Talibán, pero el cuerpo no ha sido encontrado, aunque la policía ha comenzado a buscar.

"Gazni es un área bastante vasta, así que realmente no sabemos donde está el cuerpo", dijo Pathan.