September 13, 2007

Development work suffers from loss of South Korean volunteers.

ISTANBUL – More than a week after the Taliban released Korean aid workers in Afghanistan, some South Korean Christians are critical of their government’s ban on missionary travel to the country.

South Korea agreed to withdraw troops and missionaries from Afghanistan last month in exchange for the release of the remaining 19 kidnapped Korean aid workers. The Taliban had already killed two of the group’s members and released two others after the Christian service team was captured on July 19.

Critics claim that South Korea’s ban on missionary travel to Afghanistan limits religious freedom and encourages extremist attacks on Christians around the globe.

A Taliban spokesman said last week that his group would continue kidnapping foreigners because they had found it to be an effective tactic, according to Agence France-Press (AFP).

Choi Han Eu, president of the Institute for Asian Culture and Development (IACD), told Compass that carrying out religious activities is a basic human right that must be protected.

“In Iraq, in Somalia or any other country where there is a dangerous situation, will Christians not be able to go there if it is a Muslim country?” said Choi, whose Protestant group carries out development work in more than a dozen Asian countries.

In effect, according to Christian sources, the ban has curtailed almost all development work by Koreans in Afghanistan.

“If a Christian does aid work in a Muslim country, they call that missionary work,” said Choi. “Koreans have not been doing overt evangelism in Afghanistan.”

A spokesman from the Korean presidential office said he was unable to give Compass a definition of “missionary work” banned by the government.

30 IACD staff members working at hospitals and schools in Afghanistan have been forced to leave, Choi told Compass.

According to non-governmental organization (NGO) workers in Afghanistan, between 200 and 300 Korean workers have returned to Korea.

“[Koreans] were dispersed throughout various NGOs, and there hasn’t been much time to fill the positions,” one foreign development worker said. “We are [already] understaffed.”

The Korean Army also withdrew its engineering and medical units, both heavily involved in reconstruction work.

Only a few Koreans with dual citizenship have been able to stay in Afghanistan, local NGO workers reported.

“The Afghan people will be the ones who are most harmed by this,” commented Choi.

Quiet Acceptance – For Now

The kidnapping of volunteer workers from a Korean church in July, in no way related to the IACD, renewed anger against Korean Christian development workers. Critics in Korea claimed that the church group was at fault for disregarding warnings against visiting Afghanistan.