Two South Koreans, members of a church group seized by Taliban militants in Afghanistan, spoke yesterday of their 25-day captivity, recounting being threatened with guns, their fear of dying and the kindness of some of their captors.
"We thought we might be killed when were moved to another location at night," Kim Gina told reporters at a hospital south of Seoul where 21 freed hostages are receiving medical care.
Kim appeared at a press conference with another former hostage, Kim Kyung-ja. Both wore hospital gowns. The two women were freed on August 13 as a goodwill gesture by Taliban insurgents, who had seized their group of 23 South Koreans on July 19.
Two male hostages were killed in the early stages of the crisis. The remaining 19, who were held for six weeks, returned to South Korea on Sunday after being freed last week following negotiations between their Taliban captors and South Korean officials.
The South Koreans, members of a suburban Seoul Christian church, were seized while traveling in southern Afghanistan by bus to engage in about two weeks of volunteer activities. The Taliban separated them into smaller groups and moved them often.
Kim Gina said her group, which included Kim Kyung-ja, was moved 15-16 times during the ordeal.
One of the two male hostages to be killed, 29-year-old Shim Sung-min, was kept in the same group. Kim recalled how Shim tried to comfort the others.
"Shim Sung-min said, 'Don't worry, it will be OK,"' Kim said. "He put us at ease."
Kim said that one day the Taliban called Shim and told the other hostages he had gone back home. She said they did not know that he had been killed until they were freed.
Shim was found shot dead on a road on July 31. Bae Hyung-ku, a 42-year-old deputy pastor from the group's suburban Seoul church, was discovered shot in the head on July 25.
Though the Taliban threatened the hostages with guns, some were kind, Kim said.
"When we met good Taliban we tried to talk to them," she said, without elaborating.
The two women were treated at a South Korean military hospital upon returning home and joined the other hostages at the hospital in Anyang on Sunday.
Kim Kyung-ja, at one point asked to describe details of her experience, mentioned how some Taliban, wearing masks, carried machine guns and a video camera.
"I'm still scared of cameras," she told the press conference, which included photographers.
The press conference ended suddenly when a pale-looking Kim Kyung-ja, called for a doctor, who asked reporters to halt it.
Seoul secured the release of the 19 hostages by repeating a pledge, which it had first made long before the kidnappings, to withdraw its 200 troops in Afghanistan before year's end. It also promised not to let South Korean missionaries travel to the country.
The Presbyterian Saemmul Community Church, to which the former hostages belong, denied that the group went to Afghanistan for missionary work.
South Korea has said no ransom was paid for their release.
Cha Seung-kyun, head of the hospital, told reporters that while the hostages are suffering from various ailments as a result of the ordeal, none were in a serious condition. Hair loss, insomnia and skin problems were reported among some hostages.
"There are no signs of beatings," he said.
Yonhap news agency quoted the pastor of the hostages' church as saying some of them were "badly beaten" for refusing Taliban demands to convert to Islam.
Source: China Daily/agencies
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