Korean Hostages All Free - Weeping and Rejoicing

Yes!! The news has just come through from BBC World TV that the seven remaining Korean Hostages have now all been released by the Taliban in Afghanistan. All nineteen hostages who were held hostage are now free! This report has just come through from The Korea Times:

"Taliban militants Thursday released the last seven Korean hostages - three men and four women whom they had been holding in Afghanistan since July 19, in groups of four and three, ending a 42-day hostage crisis.
...All the 19 freed hostages will be transported together to Dubai, the United Arab Emirates, after brief medical checkups at a nearby U.S. military base. The hostages are expected to arrive at Incheon International Airport on Saturday, according officials at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade said. They will be subsequently hospitalized at the Severance Hospital in Seoul for further medical checkups."

The South Korean Christian Aid team, all Christians from Saemmul Presbyterian Church, went to Afghanistan to offer practical assistance in medical care to the sick, and to children, and to exemplify the Christian message. Last night Al Jazeera TV reported that the team had gone to Afghanistan "to spread the gospel". Their Sammul church has clarifed that the team went to do aid work, so I think it most accurate to say they were putting the gospel into action. They were kidnapped by the Taliban while travelling on route to their assignment as usual, on a bus. After a six week hostage ordeal our heroes of the faith are now free. Credit is due to the South Korean negotiators, who managed to get the Taliban to back down on their demand to have Taliban prisoners released by the Afghan govt. The South Koreans agreed to withdraw their 200 troops by the end of the year, a decision they had already made anyway. They also agreed to stop South Korean missions work in Aghanistan. While the latter is not ideal, the reality is that the Taliban would obviously now target Korean aid teams, especially in less secure areas such as Ghazni. Evangelical Christians in South Korea have been celebrating as the hostages were released in stages. This is a time of both mourning and gladness. Two of the team were murdered by the Taliban earlier during the hostage crisis, Pastor Bae Hyung-kyu and Shim Sung-min.

I expressed some of my thoughts in my previous post, regarding the difference between the self-serving and damaging spiritual philosophy of the Taliban, contrasted with the other-focused and selfless actions of the South Korean team. Today I am reminded that we weep with those who weep, and rejoice with those who rejoice. Those of us who have kept the team in our prayers hold both of those realities together. Christian history has chronicled stories like these from its beginnings. In the Acts of the Apostles, an account of the 1st century church, in chapter 12:1-4, we read of two imprisonments by King Herod. One resulting in the death of James and the other in the escape of Peter. I have often thought of the sorrow of the early church in losing James, they way they kept a prayer vigil for Peter, and their joy when he miraculously escaped.

So I have these two things in my mind and heart today. I am thrilled that our people have been released. And I am remembering the two men who made the ultimate sacrifice in the cause of the gospel. It's a privilege to tell their story, which is part of our history. They are those of whom the world was not worthy. And the nineteen other heroes have been released and will soon be home in South Korea!