Newsletter No. 687
News-Analysis
July 27, 2007

 

KOREAN HOSTAGE CRISIS SPOOKS JAPANESE IN AFGHANISTAN

On July 19th elements of the Taliban captured 23 South Korean nationals who were traveling on a bus from Kabul to Kandahar. They were a group of Christian missionaries apparently hoping to convert some local Muslims to their religion. After initial negotiations with the South Korean government, one of the hostages, Reverend Hyung-kyu Bae (42), was shot to death on the 25th. It is said that the hostages are now being held by three different groups of Taliban fighters with each separate group making different demands -- but mainly that Korean forces be immediately withdrawn from Afghanistan.

One of the female hostages named Hyun-joo Im (32) was able to make a brief plea in a telephone interview: “We are in a very difficult time. Please help us… All of us are sick and in very bad condition. We are all pleading for you to help us get out of here as soon as possible. Really, we beg you... I am groping for words to describe the plight of the hostages. I can't explain to you the dilemma we are in.”

This story is much bigger in Korea than elsewhere, although it is garnering headlines around the world. Many Koreans are denouncing the Taliban as being “barbaric,” and other Koreans are blaming the hostages themselves and making disparaging comments about Christian missionaries and their activities. The whole situation is not entirely unlike what Japan experienced in the April 2004 hostage crisis in Iraq.

In Japan, the public is mostly disengaged with the whole affair. Frankly, there just isn’t a lot of emotional connection between the Japanese and Korean publics in spite of the fact that they are close neighbors. However, in certain political quarters and among those Japanese working in Afghanistan, there is definitely a sense that this crisis could just as easily happened to Japan as Korea.

The Asahi Shinbun reports that there are about 140 Japanese nationals in Afghanistan, including government officials and about fifty NGO members. One Japanese NGO worker said: “Foreigners stand out just by walking outside in Afghanistan. It is hard to believe that twenty or more people, like the South Korean group, were moving around together.”

MOFA is asking many Japanese in Afghanistan to evacuate from certain areas, including Kabul. Separately, many of the NGOs that operate in the country are reviewing their operations in light of the hostage crisis. Said the director of one Japanese NGO: “We will have to reconsider the dispatch if the situation there worsens.”

A JAPANESE ENVOY TO THE FUNERAL OF FORMER KING MOHAMMAD ZAHIR SHAH

On the 23rd the former Afghan King Mohammad Zahir Shah died at age 92. His long and relatively quiet reign had lasted from 1933 to 1973. Opinions on Zahir Shah’s rule are mixed, but to many it seems like a golden age when compared to Afghan history after 1973.

In commemoration of the passing of the king, Japan dispatched House of Representatives member Kenshiro Matsunami as “Ambassador on Special Mission.” MOFA explained that this action was taken “in light of the importance of the bilateral relations between Japan and the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan.” MOFA is also playing up the notion that Zahir Shah was “Father of the Nation.”

SHORT MEETING WITH AFGHAN FOREIGN MINISTER IN ROME

MOFA reported that Senior Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs Takeshi Iwaya met for thirty minutes with Foreign Minister Dadfar Spanta on July 3rd. They met on the sidelines of the Rome Conference on the Rule of Law in Afghanistan.

Iwaya outlined the various ways in which the Japanese government was supporting reconstruction in Afghanistan, and Spanta expressed his appreciation for these efforts, going so far as to call the Japanese assistance “indispensable.” Foreign Minister Spanta also said that he was looking forward to his next visit to Japan.