Eight Korean Hostages Set Free, and Thoughts

Update 30-AUG: All nineteen Korean hostages have been released. See end of this post.

Excuse me a moment... woohoo! Now here's the news. The Taliban have begun releasing the South Korean Christian Aid workers, and set eight of the hostages free in two groups - first three women were set free in the central town of Ghazni, and and then a group of five, four women and a man, were released in the Shabaz area of Ghazni Province. (see photo). It seems they were being held at different locations which is why the releases are in different places. The eight freed were released into the care of the Inernational Red Cross. More are expected to be freed later today. Added note: Twelve of the nineteen have now been released, see this from The Korea Times.
There's video footage of the releases here at EuroNews (you may have to scroll down their page to see it). From the BBC:

"The Taleban appear to have dropped their earlier demand that Taleban members be released from Afghan prisons in exchange for the hostages' freedom. A Taleban representative, Mullah Basheer, said all 19 would be released "step by step" in the coming week. "One of our main demands has not been accepted, but our other demands were welcomed. All of the Koreans will be released in less than a week."
...The hostages are thought to be held in several different locations in Ghazni province. Some 200 South Korean non-combat personnel are deployed in the country to help with reconstruction efforts. Seoul had already decided, before the kidnap, to end the deployment."

Indeed. The South Koreans had already decided to remove their troops before the hostages were taken. It is interesting to note too that it is estimated that a quarter of Korea's population are Christans, and they have 16,000 missionaries on overseas missions. I call that trying to turn the world upside down in a positive way. Al Jazeera also reports:

"Relatives of the hostages, who erupted in cheers on hearing news of the agreement, are now anxiously awaiting the hostages' return. "It is like a dead child is coming back to life," Lee Hyoen-Ja, a relative of one of the kidnapped Christian aid workers, told JoongAng Daily on Wedneday.
...At Seoul's Saemmul Church, which sent the volunteers to Afghanistan, officials said the focus now would be on looking after the released hostages and their families. "Our work for now will be to make sure the freed hostages return safely and have the time to recover, and to make sure the family members of the two who were sacrificed are comforted," Bang Yong-kyun, pastor, said.
...As news of the release spread, other South Korean churches said the kidnapping crisis had led them to rethink evangelical missions to Afghanistan."

Very interesting watching Al Jazeera's tv report on this. In an interview with a South Korean spokesman the Al Jazeera news anchorman asked if they Korean team should have gone to Afghanistan in the first place, since the South Korean govt. had warned it's citizens of the danger there. "They were on God's mission", said the South Korean spokesman, adding that political considerations were not the overriding determinant in the decision to go. "But two of them were killed" replied the news anchor, "On God's mission?" And in a nutshell he showed how people really do not understand that Christians have been killed for 2000 years for going to places where help is needed, on God's mission. Not looking to be killed, and certainly taking safety measures, but nevertheless some have been killed. We are not supposed to be completely reckless, but anyone who reads the accounts of the first Christian churches knows that politics and danger did not stop Christians travelling to other places, and that they also suffered where they lived too.

Many today suffer where they live. The media seems to have forgotten about the Christian who faced the death penalty in Afghanistan for converting out of Islam. Not from the Taliban mind, but under Afghan law. So while some want to debate the issue of sending missionaries to Afghanistan, let's think about the Christian brothers and sisters who live there. Would the media suggest all Christians flee the country? A sort of religious purge under the guise of "safety measures"? Or that they renounce their faith so that the Afgahn govt. doesn't get upset, and the Taliban feel comfortable? Here is the difference: the Taliban, and Al Quaeda and the rest of the extremists deliberately kill themselves in order to inflict death and damage on others. The Christian missionaries don't look to be killed, but do sometimes experience persecution, torture and death trying to help others heal from damage and destruction by showing a more excellent way. That is why the Islamic extremists are fools, and the South Korean mission team are heroes. And that is why these stories need to be told, and handed down to next generations. Meanwhile, eight are free, and more expected soon. Yes, let our people go.

Update 31 AUG All nineteen hostages are now free. See my follow-up post.