Taliban Another Woman Hostage Calls for Help in Phone Call
A female hostage among the remaining 22 Koreans held by Taliban fighters appealed on Saturday for a speedy end to their ordeal, Reuters reported.
The woman, one of 18 female hostages among the South Korean Christian volunteers kidnapped in Afghanistan, spoke to Reuters on the mobile phone of a Taliban fighter.
"We are tired and being moved from one location to another," she said in broken Dari, one of the main languages in Afghanistan, according to Reuters.
"We are kept in separate groups and are not aware of each other. We ask the Taliban and the government to release us," she said. Pronunciation of her name could not be understood by a Reuters reporter who spoke to her, according to Reuters.
On the other hand, the woman has been identified as Yoo Jung-hwa, 39, who has been in hostage in Afghanistan for her second volunteer service as English interpreter for her members in the Islamic country, following the first one last year.
When asked to confirm who is the interviewee among all families of the 23 Korean hostages by Reuters, the woman was identified as Yoo in 30 minutes. Yoo's family members informed that she is "Yoo Jung-hwa," Yonhap news agency said.
Yoo's family is scheduled to make their official poisition about the Reuters' interview Sunday.
"I learned much from the volunteer service last year," Yoo is reported to have told her family members to make them take easy before departing for Kabul.
"She left, saying never to worry as she had been there safe last year, too," a sister of Yoo's mother, whose name is identified by the family name of Kwak, said on July 20 when the kidnapping was first reported, one day after the incident.
She is an English lecturer at private learning centers.
"It's certain to be (Yoo's) voice," family members of Yoo said, after hearing the voice of Reuters' interview.
"There is more strength in her voice than expected. I hope the kidnappers be freed as soon as possible," said Yoo Jung-hee, younger sister of Yoo.