News

Freeing Christian hostages the Jack Bauer way

Report: South Korean government stopped plan to kidnap kidnappers’ family members.

Christianity Today August 14, 2007

A Monday Times of London article is full of revelations that haven’t appeared anywhere else – which may mean the paper has several big scoops, or may mean what they’re reporting isn’t right at all. But in any case, the paper says:

  • The bus driver who was transporting the Koreans when the Taliban attacked has been arrested and is accused of tipping the kidnappers.
  • The Korean government has stopped at least two military operations intended to free the Christian aid worker hostages being held hostage by members of the Taliban.
  • One of the planned military operations would have involved kidnapping family members of the kidnappers “as a way of applying pressure.” An unnamed “senior intelligence source” told the paper, “We know who the Taleban commanders are and we wanted to arrest their families but the Koreans wouldn’t let us.”

It’s hard to imagine, even if kidnapping innocents to secure the release of the aid workers had “worked,” that the Christian aid workers would be very pleased. It’s hard to imagine Paul writing to the Corinthians, “When persecuted, we persecute; when kidnapped, we kidnap…”

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