Diplomatic Efforts Futile So Far

It’s been 16 days since the Taliban in Afghanistan kidnapped Korean Christians. But the Korean government’s efforts to secure the release of the Korean hostages have failed to produce tangible results.

The government has made an “all-out diplomatic effort,” dispatching a presidential special envoy, but failed to prevent the killing of two of the hostages.

Although there is still the last option, which is a direct negotiation, it is hard to be sure about the effect in that the Korean government cannot give an answer on its own to the kidnappers’ demands for the release of Taliban prisoners.

Limitations of Diplomacy-

So far, the Korean government’s diplomatic efforts to win the release have included the announcement of a statement, persuasion efforts through the Afghan government, and multilateral diplomatic efforts at the ASEAN Regional Forum and persuasion of Afghanistan’s neighbors, including Pakistan.

It has also made some behind-the-scenes diplomatic efforts with the U.S., which has large influence on the Afghan government.

However, the results have not been very promising.

News has it that two of the hostages are in a very poor health, but it is still unclear if medicines and necessities were delivered to the hostages. This means that Korea’s negotiation leverage is so limited that it cannot even see its humanitarian demands fulfilled.

In his briefing yesterday, presidential spokesperson Cheon Ho-seon responded to the question about the inability of Korea’s diplomacy by saying, “It is regretful, but it is a very rare situation in that more than 20 people are taken hostage and most of them are women. The government has come up with the highest level of response possible, but it was hard.”

Under these circumstances, some argue that the only remaining diplomacy tool is direct negotiation with the Taliban kidnappers. They say that it is the only peaceful solution since the government has ruled out the use of force.

In Menacing Situation-

The government believes that its diplomatic efforts to win the release should remain in a “gray area” as much as possible.

The kidnapping occurred while a severe dispute was going on between the Taliban, who want to regain the power it lost six years ago, and the Afghan government, which strives to keep power. Therefore, the Korean government kept an ambiguous approach.

If Korea launches direct negotiations with the Taliban, it would satisfy the militant group. But it would also deal a severe blow to the Afghan government, which is engaged in negotiations with the U.S., one of its allies who is waging an ongoing war on terror.

This is why the Korean government keeps saying, “It is under confirmation” when international news agencies pour out “updates” of the hostage situation every minute.

President Roh Moo-hyun’s Agonies-

Put in such a dilemma, President Roh Moo-hyun’s agony continues.

A statement to the Taliban was released on July 21 according to the president’s will, but it was criticized as a prematurely deployed tactic.

Baek Jong-cheon, the presidential special envoy, was dispatched to Afghanistan following the president’s instructions. But many say that Baek effectively came back empty-handed yesterday.

Now, anti-Americanism is coming up to the surface, and some in the political circles seem to be trying to take advantage of such sentiment. That puts another unexpected strain on the president, who is ultimately responsible for addressing the situation.

triplets@donga.com jin0619@donga.com