Korean Hostage Found Dead
by Richardson ~ July 25th, 2007. Filed under: Asia, Central Asia, Religion, Terrorism. [Update: July 26, 2007] This is what I mean by “metro-elite propaganda” (h/t my former boss). The article begins well enough, but then sneaks in the following:
Some devout Christians are calling the abductees martyrs, evoking the self-glorification of extreme Islamist jihadists.
This is the kind of anti-Christian moral equivalence that bugs me. On the one hand, we have Christian aid workers who go to a war-ravaged country to provide help. They are abducted and at least one is killed. Some Christians call them martyrs.
Then we have radical Islamic Jihadis who blow up pizza parlors and polling places. Radical Islamists then call the suicide bombers martyrs.
One guess as to which is the real martyr. Anyone?
Let me re-use what I once wrote in a column:
Radical Islamists often depict suicide bombers as “martyrs” while their sympathizers in the West dignify terrorists in Iraq as “freedom fighters.” Even the mainstream media oblige them as “insurgents.” But real martyrs do not kill, maim and destroy. Martyrs heal what is broken. They give voice to those who are oppressed. They build what is shattered. They attempt to convince through reason while others deal in hatred and violence. And, yes, martyrs die at the hands of those who despise all these things.
[Original Entry]
According to the AP:
Afghan police discovered the bullet-riddled body of a South Korean hostage Wednesday as the Taliban released eight other captives who were taken to a U.S. military base, officials said…The male South Korean victim was found with 10 bullet holes in his head, chest and stomach in the Mushaki area of Qarabagh district in Ghazni province, the region where 23 South Koreans were kidnapped last week, said Abdul Rahman, a police officer.
A police official, who asked not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the situation, said militants told him the hostage was sick and couldn’t walk and was therefore shot.
There have been some asinine remarks about Korean Christian aid workers and Christianity in general in the blogosphere, including on Korea-centric blogs, but if the following statement from the church in Bundang, Korea is true, then these Korean Christians should be lauded for their courage, compassion, and faith, rather than villified as “fanatics” albeit more “benign” kind than the likes of the Taliban:
The South Korean church that the abductees attend has said it will suspend at least some of its volunteer work in Afghanistan. It also stressed that the Koreans abducted were not involved in any Christian missionary work, saying they provided only medical and other volunteer aid to distressed people in the war-ravaged country.
I am not an evangelical Protestant, but I have been often impressed by the deep faith, spirituality, and activism of many evangelicals. And certainly I have met numerous evangelicals who are rigorously intellectual and learned. It is a left-wing, secular metro-elite propaganda that continues to deride such people as unintelligent or anti-intellectual “Bible-thumping simpletons.”
Frankly, I do not know where the North Korea Freedom movement would be without such people in the U.S. and in South Korea.
July 25th, 2007 at 9:02 pm
It is sad as to what has happened to these people who only want to help. Yet they traveled in a land that is dangerous even in the best of times. I believe thier safety will be in the negotiations that will determine how much will be paid and who gets released. The hostage takers may already be under survailence and they may also pay the price of taking hostages. As to the leaving of any South Korean troops, it is my understanding they stay much inside thier own compound and only add to the coalition by being there. Politically a lose but not militarily.
July 26th, 2007 at 2:27 am
I`m very much reminded by the controversy faced here in Japan by the three freelance journalists/volunteers who were kidnapped in Iraq in early 2004. Although their personal reasons for visiting and helping out were strongly admirable, they were disgraced in Japanese society by `selfishly embarrassing the Japanese public by putting themselves in an awkward situation.` It even came to the point where they individually had to pay the costs of their own rescue operation.
I`m very sorry that it came to one of the kidnappees being executed, but I hope that the others get the respect that they deserve for putting their lives at risk for volunteering when they return to South Korea.
July 26th, 2007 at 1:52 pm
I hope they will garner respect as well. I think the evangelical Christian community in both South Korea and the U.S. will applaud them, but the public expression of that may be limited, given the relentless Christian-bashing.
July 26th, 2007 at 10:26 pm
And christians do, on occasion, richly deserve such bashing. Yet the world is a better place because such persons of faith placed themselves in peril to carry the message of God’s love into the darker corners of the world. Korea certainly gained from Boddidarhma’s mission to China, as well as from the efforts of the Underwoods, Lintons, and others. You do not have to belong to their churches to recognize their contributions, which in some cases have been substantial.
July 26th, 2007 at 10:42 pm
I was born in a hospital that was established by American missionaries. It is amazing how much of the educational and health care infrastructure in the non-Western countries was founded by Western missionary and aid workers.
I don’t mean to pick an argument here, but do you not think that statement is about as meaningful or useful as stating “Non-Christians do, on occasion, richly deserve such bashing”?
July 27th, 2007 at 2:03 am
“Frankly, I do not know where the North Korea Freedom movement would be without such people in the U.S. and in South Korea.”
And that is the crucial part of it that we should be remembering.
Thank God for these people. Literally.
July 27th, 2007 at 7:51 pm
Friday Greetings to James Na,
Thank you for your mention of such hospitals and educational institutions as may be legacies of indomitable, hardworking American and Canadian missionaries in Korea in the 19th and 20th centuries. Yonsei Severance Hospital and Yonsei University, both superb institutions, come readily to mind, though there are many worthy others. Considering such a legacy, and mindful of the incredible self-sacrifice of their parents and grandparents who built post-war Korea, it is wonderful that there are today in the age of hedonism on the Han, young Koreans who yet take heed of the injunction of their faith to “go and do likewise.”
August 2nd, 2007 at 9:38 pm
On the one hand, we have Christian aid workers who go to a war-ravaged country to provide help. They are abducted and at least one is killed.
Yes, the Christian aid-workers do go to war-raved countries to provide help. However, this help is not as innocent as it is projected. They do use to have their hidden agenda behind these kind aid or, if I may use a broader term, goodwill. The agenda is to spread their religion like a virus, wherever possible and by use of all the possible means. I would better give you an example of an incident happened personally to me a day before yesterday. I am a foreigner studying here in Japan. There was a small festival called Hanami (fireworks) and I went there with one of my Japanese friends. While returning, I saw few Korean girls in their traditional dresses performing some Korean dance. Attracted by that, we went near to have a close look. After a minute, few other Koreans came to us with Jesus pictures and posters depicting Christianity and started explaining about it. This was the first personal experience of the notorious Korean Christian societies. I am sure that the 23 aid-workers in Afghanistan were also having a similar hidden agenda and, in general, all such missionaries use to have one.
Radical Islamists often depict suicide bombers as “martyrs” while their sympathizers in the West dignify terrorists in Iraq as “freedom fighters.” Even the mainstream media oblige them as “insurgents.” But real martyrs do not kill, maim and destroy. Martyrs heal what is broken. They give voice to those who are oppressed. They build what is shattered. They attempt to convince through reason while others deal in hatred and violence. And, yes, martyrs die at the hands of those who despise all these things.
The Islamists do suicide bombing because they do not have other means. If they would be having options, they would also have done an organized killing with their governments support as USA or other western countries did (and doing) in Iraq or Afghanistan. The Islamists and the USA (and allies), both are same. Both of them kill innocent people. If you have a look on figures, 600000 of Iraqi civilians got killed (and counting) in America’s war against Saddam Hussain. No WMD has been found yet. No doubt that Saddam Husaain also killed a lot of people but still, the count is much much less than what Americans have done. If there would have been a fair trial by a third party, independent and capable enough, Bush would have been hanged before Saddam.
but if the following statement from the church in Bundang, Korea is true,
“if”
Koreans abducted were not involved in any Christian missionary work, saying they provided only medical and other volunteer aid to distressed people in the war-ravaged country
Why didn’t they co-ordinate with the local authorities to provide the “so called” aid-work?! If their intention was truly to help people, the government would also have supported them, even encouraged. Why did they choose to hire a bus by themselves and why a paster was leading them if it was not a Church-missionary?