[Editorial] Fear Allah’s Judgment

A 29 year-old man was killed as the second victim among the Korean hostages held captive by the Taliban yesterday.

The Taliban insurgent group killed Mr. Shim Seong-min and threw his body away last night, saying that the Afghan government paid no attention despite extended deadlines for negotiations on several occasions.

Only a day after the insurgents aired Shim’s voice on Japanese NHK TV, they murdered him.

Mr. Shim was a young man, who had a keen interest in volunteer work for disabled people since his high school days, helping his blind aunt. He was also the eldest son in his family and grandson of an independence fighter.

The Taliban also revealed video footage of other hostages including Lee Jeong-ran, Han Ji-yeong, Lim Hyeon-ju, Yoo Jeong-hwa and Ahn Hye-jin. They seemed to be in extreme fear, wearing hijabs, Islamic women’s traditional headscarves.

The Taliban notified Korea of a 4:00 p.m. deadline this afternoon, saying that they would kill the male hostages first, and then the females if negotiations did not go their way, and that the interval between the murders would be short.

This is an unforgivable sin. After killing hostages, they pray toward Islamic holy sites five times a day. Why on earth do they not fear Allah’s judgment?

The Taliban are Sunni Muslims representing Islamic fundamentalism. The Sheikh at Al-Azhar, a premier Egyptian institution of Sunni Muslim’s education and a center of Islamic scholarship, said, “The Quran teaches Muslims to treat people with other religions just as they do to their Muslim families. Muslims must not kill Koreans who came to help our Afghan brothers. Muhammad, the founder of Islam and a visionary prophet, banned the murder of women, elderly, and children at any event. The sheikh also said, “Civilians, not soldiers fighting a war, and women cannot be the subject of a holy war. Anyone who would harm these innocent people will face severe consequences and be condemned to hell on the Day of the Reckoning.”

However, it seems that these words all fell on deaf ears. The Taliban is committing a crime in the name of Allah and Muhammad. The 21 hostages, their families, and all of the Korean people are suffering a living hell now.

Victims’ families yesterday begged for support from the international community, including the U.S., to help their 21 loved ones come back home safe and sound. For their safe return, all of the Korean people will stand by them in appealing for support. Please help us so that our sons and daughters return to the families.