By Kim Rahn
Staff Reporter
Rev. Bae Hyung-kyu, 42, was killed on his birthday on July 25 in Afghanistan, adding sorrow to family members.
Bae's remains will be donated to a hospital in Anyang, Gyeonggi Province, for medical study in accordance with his will, his brother said.
``We asked the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade to preserve the body well and carry it home for donation. He used to say that he wants to be help not only during his lifetime but also after death. He registered himself with an organ donation agency a few years ago with family's consent,'' the brother said.
He was afraid that donating organs may be impossible as media reports said he had bullet holes in his body.
AP quoted an Afghan police official as saying that the hostage was sick and couldn't walk and was therefore shot. The Taliban confirmed the killing of a sick male hostage.
But Saemmul Community Church, where Bae and other hostages are members, said Bae's health condition has been good.
Some presume the kidnappers, strict Muslims, might have expressed hostility toward Bae, a Christian priest. Qari Yousuf Ahmadi, purported spokesman of the Taliban, told New York Times Saturday, ``We know that these people have come here to convert our good Muslims away from Islam. If they were not women, we would have killed them on the spot.''
The pastor of the Sammul church in Bundang, south of Seoul, was the leader of the 19-member volunteer team.
He had been nicknamed Mr. Smile as he was always smiling during volunteer services.
Born in Jeju, he worked at a company after graduating from university. He attended a theological college later and became a pastor in 2001.
He took part in the establishment of Saemmul church in 1998, and has worked for a young men's association there.
Bae actively participated in volunteer works _ he had charity work in Bangladesh last April, and was planning to head for Africa within this year after returning home from Afghanistan.
He is survived by a wife and a nine-year-old girl.
Rev. Park Won-hee, who attended Hanyang University with Bae, said in his writing, ``Hyung-kyu always cared for his friends, and never neglected the needy. His wife recently donated marrow for a leukemia patient and never disclosed her name to the patient,'' he said.
``He is not the one who does such works for praise or recognition, and I don't know why such tragedy happened to him,'' Rev. Park said.
``He always cared for his friends, and never neglected the needy.''
Rev. Park at Nakdo Church in Seoul talked about his friend Rev. Bae in his writing he posted on the church's Web site last Saturday wishing for Bae's safe return to home.
As his death was reported, Bae's family and friends broke down.
His father Bae Ho-jung, a Christian elder, 72, and his mother Lee Chang-suk, deaconess, 68, living in Jeju Island were praying at a church there when they heard the news. Shocked, the parents and other parishioners, who prayed there every day since the 23 Koreans' abduction Friday, lamented Bae's death.
They are out of touch with the media.
A pastor of Saemmul church said, ``We cannot repress our astonishment from Rev. Bae's death. We express condolence to his family and pray that families of other hostages will not lose hope. We're preparing for his funeral services through consultation with the government as soon as his body arrives in Seoul.''