2008 California Election Forum

Thanks for your prayers for the 21 South Korean hostages as they suffered over 6 weeks of captivity and 2 losses of life. It's suspected the Taliban were finally paid money to release the hostages, but it's not confirmed.

But we do know the South Korean government...

Promised to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan by the end of the year (which they were going to do anyway).

Agreed to withdraw all current Christian missionaries in Afghanistan and prohibit any future missionaries from going.

About 25% of the Korean population is Christian. And today over 15,000 Korean missionaries are operating in 165 countries.

Besides removing the Korean missionaries, the Korean government has also...

Shown it will negotiate with terrorists.

Opened the door for the capture of missionaries in other countries.

Helped create criticism of the Korean church and its "insensitivity" to cultural difference.

Incidentally, the surviving missionaries went through terrible torture by the Taliban. They were forced to work like slaves, beaten repeatedly and ordered at gunpoint to recite the Islamic prayer for conversion.