February 11, 2009 4:29 PM
- Text
Exclusive: Plea From Taliban Hostage
(CBS/AP)
A South Korean woman being held captive by Taliban militants along with 21 of her fellow aid workers has made a desperate plea for help in an exclusive telephone interview with CBS News.
"We are in a very difficult time. Please help us," said the woman, who gave her name as Yo Cyun-ju. "We are all pleading for you to help us get out of here as soon as possible… Really, we beg you."
Yo, who spoke to CBS News on Wednesday night after an interview was arranged with a Taliban commander, sounded weak as she spoke for about three-minutes in Korean and an Afghan dialect of Farsi.
"All of us are sick and in very bad condition," she said. Yo beseeched the South Korean government and the international community to make a deal with the Taliban to win their release.
She said the hostages were being held in two groups — she was with 17 other women, and the men were being held separately.
"We are in a dreadful condition," she said. She went on to describe her captivity as a "very difficult life every day", and "a very exhausting situation".
A senior Taliban leader in the Ghazni province, contacted by CBS News Thursday, refuted Yo's claim that many of the hostages were unwell. He said only one of the male captives was sick, and none of the women was in poor physical condition.
Mullah Mohammed Sabir, the Taliban's governor for Ghazni — not recognized by Afghanistan's government, which has its own governor in the province — said the group had provided a doctor for the ill man and he was also being looked after by several of his fellow hostages who have medical training.
Sabir told CBS News that the last deadline set by the Taliban for the Afghan government to release prisoners in exchange for the hostages had passed before dawn Thursday morning, but no new deadline was set.
He said the fate of the hostages was dependent on negotiations being held between the militant group and Afghan and South Korean officials.
According to Sabir, two Taliban members from Ghazni, Abdul salam and Mulvi Abdullah, were conducting the negotiations with officials by phone. No face-to-face contact had been made, he said.
A top South Korean envoy headed to Afghanistan on Thursday, scrambling to save the 22 of his country's citizens still held captive. Militants killed one hostage Friday, leaving his body to be discovered by police in Ghazni province.
Yo told CBS News she was unaware of any of the men being killed, due to the separation of men and women.
After conflicting reports Wednesday from Western and Afghan officials that possibly eight of the other hostages had been released, South Korean presidential spokesman Chun Ho-sun said the 22 were still believed held but not suffering from health problems.
An Afghan police chief ruled out Thursday using force to free the others and said that the Afghan negotiators were speaking with the Taliban over the phone, hoping to secure their release.
On Wednesday, authorities found the bullet-riddled body of 42-year-old Bae Hyung-kyu in Qarabagh district of Ghazni province where the South Koreans were abducted July 19. The killing sparked outrage in South Korea, where the envoy warned that those responsible would be held accountable.
South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun spoke Thursday with his Afghan counterpart Hamid Karzai and they agreed to cooperate for the safety of the captives and their quick release, Roh's office said.
Wednesday's casualty, Bae, was a founder of the Saemmul Presbyterian Church and led its volunteer work in Afghanistan. He was found with 10 bullet holes in his head, chest and stomach, said Abdul Rahman, a police officer. Another Afghan 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.
South Korean church officials said Bae was killed on his birthday Wednesday. An official at the South Korean Embassy in Kabul said officials were making arrangements to repatriate the body on a flight from Ghazni.
"We are in a very difficult time. Please help us," said the woman, who gave her name as Yo Cyun-ju. "We are all pleading for you to help us get out of here as soon as possible… Really, we beg you."
Yo, who spoke to CBS News on Wednesday night after an interview was arranged with a Taliban commander, sounded weak as she spoke for about three-minutes in Korean and an Afghan dialect of Farsi.
"All of us are sick and in very bad condition," she said. Yo beseeched the South Korean government and the international community to make a deal with the Taliban to win their release.
She said the hostages were being held in two groups — she was with 17 other women, and the men were being held separately.
"We are in a dreadful condition," she said. She went on to describe her captivity as a "very difficult life every day", and "a very exhausting situation".
The interview was the first known contact with any of the South Koreans being held by the Taliban in Afghanistan.
Interview With HostageA senior Taliban leader in the Ghazni province, contacted by CBS News Thursday, refuted Yo's claim that many of the hostages were unwell. He said only one of the male captives was sick, and none of the women was in poor physical condition.
Mullah Mohammed Sabir, the Taliban's governor for Ghazni — not recognized by Afghanistan's government, which has its own governor in the province — said the group had provided a doctor for the ill man and he was also being looked after by several of his fellow hostages who have medical training.
Sabir told CBS News that the last deadline set by the Taliban for the Afghan government to release prisoners in exchange for the hostages had passed before dawn Thursday morning, but no new deadline was set.
He said the fate of the hostages was dependent on negotiations being held between the militant group and Afghan and South Korean officials.
According to Sabir, two Taliban members from Ghazni, Abdul salam and Mulvi Abdullah, were conducting the negotiations with officials by phone. No face-to-face contact had been made, he said.
A top South Korean envoy headed to Afghanistan on Thursday, scrambling to save the 22 of his country's citizens still held captive. Militants killed one hostage Friday, leaving his body to be discovered by police in Ghazni province.
Yo told CBS News she was unaware of any of the men being killed, due to the separation of men and women.
After conflicting reports Wednesday from Western and Afghan officials that possibly eight of the other hostages had been released, South Korean presidential spokesman Chun Ho-sun said the 22 were still believed held but not suffering from health problems.
An Afghan police chief ruled out Thursday using force to free the others and said that the Afghan negotiators were speaking with the Taliban over the phone, hoping to secure their release.
On Wednesday, authorities found the bullet-riddled body of 42-year-old Bae Hyung-kyu in Qarabagh district of Ghazni province where the South Koreans were abducted July 19. The killing sparked outrage in South Korea, where the envoy warned that those responsible would be held accountable.
South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun spoke Thursday with his Afghan counterpart Hamid Karzai and they agreed to cooperate for the safety of the captives and their quick release, Roh's office said.
Wednesday's casualty, Bae, was a founder of the Saemmul Presbyterian Church and led its volunteer work in Afghanistan. He was found with 10 bullet holes in his head, chest and stomach, said Abdul Rahman, a police officer. Another Afghan 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.
South Korean church officials said Bae was killed on his birthday Wednesday. An official at the South Korean Embassy in Kabul said officials were making arrangements to repatriate the body on a flight from Ghazni.
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