By Kim Rahn
Staff Reporter
Korea's religious groups, especially Protestant ones, are well-known for their active overseas volunteer service of building houses and providing medical treatment for the poor.
However, concerns are growing over their safety as they are exposed to kidnappings, as seen in the case of Taliban militants' abduction of 23 Korean citizens in Afghanistan.
No official data is available on how many Koreans are overseas for volunteer services. An American church leader said Korea ranks second after the United States in the number of missionaries overseas. He estimated that about 30,000-40,000 Korean missionaries are engaged in overseas evangelism and charitable services.
Twenty-three members of Saemmul Community Church in Bundang, Gyeonggi Province, were kidnapped Thursday evening. Some of them are nurses and medical students. They planned to provide volunteer services together with NGOs, including the Korean Foundation for World Aid, a Christian charity group.
For the past four years the church has been sending about 20 people to Afghanistan to complete seven to 15 days of community service activities every summer.
According to Protestant groups, about 100 Korean missionaries are staying in Afghanistan for long-term service work.
Those participating in charity work usually do not conduct ``missionary'' work rather they perform volunteer activities. However, people are concerned that Protestant activities in nations with varying religions such as strictly Islamic Afghanistan may irritate the nationals despite volunteers' good intentions.
The Afghanistan Peace Festival, which was unsuccessful last August, is an example. The Christian group Institute of Asian Culture and Development (IACD) was to hold an evangelical event in Kabul with more than 1,200 Koreans, despite the Korean government's warning against possible terrorist attacks.
Korean authorities collected information about a possible bomb attack aimed at the group, some of whom distributed handouts on Christianity. The group finally cancelled the event.
Internet users criticized the Saemmul church for neglecting the safety of its members by sending such a large number of volunteers to the country without specific safety measures. Three years ago the Korean government classified Afghanistan as a nation where travel is not recommended.
``There have been similar cases, like the killing of Kim Sun-il in Iraq, and I don't understand why people go there and bring danger on themselves, although it was a volunteer act with good intentions. When the government said not to go, why did you go? So what did you achieve?'' an Internet user with the ID ``sindbad'' said on Daum.
However, Protestants who have been to Afghanistan say they go there because there are people who need their help.
``Afghanistan is similar to Korea in many ways _ it has suffered invasions many times through history and recently had an internal war. There are so many things that we need to help in post-war rehabilitation,'' said Choi Han-woo, secretary general of the IACD.