A Second Korean Hostage is Killed
Korea confirmed Today (July 31) a second Korean hostage has been killed in Afghanistan, denouncing Taliban militants for committing the “barbarity.”
“One of our citizens kidnapped in Afghanistan, Shim Sung-min, was confirmed on July 31 to have been killed,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Cho Hee-yong said in a press briefing.
The official confirmation came over 12 hours after a Taliban spokesman said the militants had shot and killed a male hostage because the Afghan government failed to trade the hostages for Taliban prisoners.
“The government cannot hide its anger and strongly denounces the Taliban militants for brutally murdering (Shim) while our government was doing its best and working closely with the Afghan government to win the safe release of our citizens,” the Foreign Ministry spokesman said.
The bullet-riddled body of Shim was found on a road near the city of Ghazni, where 23 Korean aid workers were kidnapped on July 19, according to reports.
The 42-year-old leader of the group, Presbyterian pastor Bae Hyung-kyu, was shot dead last Wednesday after Kabul refused to release jailed Taliban fighters.
Shim, a native of Goseong in South Gyeongsang Province, had worked at an IT company in Seoul but recently moved to Seongnam, just south of the capital, where he said he wanted to do volunteer work while attending graduate school.
The 30-year-old was remembered by his family as a very dutiful son, while his friends said Shim was always the first in line to offer help to anyone less fortunate, especially the disabled.