YONHAP NEWS

(LEAD) Spy chief ambiguous in denial of ransom payment to Taliban

By Yoo Cheong-mo
SEOUL, Sept. 2 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's spy chief on Sunday reacted ambiguously to foreign news reports alleging that Seoul had paid a hefty ransom to the Taliban in exchange for the release of Korean hostages in Afghanistan.

   "I can say that foreign media speculation about a ransom trade (involving the Taliban) is wrong," Kim Man-bok, chief of the National Intelligence Service (NIS), said, instead of giving an outright denial.

   Kim made the brief remark in the presence of Korean reporters while traveling from Dubai, United Arab Emirates, to Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul, along with the 19 freed Korean hostages.

   The 19 Korean Christian aid workers released in stages Wednesday and Thursday arrived Sunday at Incheon from Dubai, where they had a one-night stopover after leaving Kabul, the Afghan capital.

   But an NIS official accompanying Kim told reporters right after the remarks that the Korean government has never paid any ransom to the Taliban.

   A Taliban leader told Reuters Saturday that South Korea paid the Taliban more than $20 million to release the 19 hostages. Earlier last week, South Korea's presidential spokesman Cheon Ho-seon and Foreign Minister Song Min-soon denied there had been any ransom payment to the Taliban.

   According to NIS officials, Kim left for Afghanistan on Aug. 22 to personally oversee hostage release negotiations.

   "I'm obliged to protect and save the lives of the Korean people. I have just tried to carry out the obligation," Kim said on the Dubai-Incheon flight.

   "I decided to travel to Afghanistan to revive the deadlocked negotiations and speed up the decision-making process. Rescue of such a large number of hostages at one time is unprecedented," he said.

   President Roh Moo-hyun's spokesman, Cheon, said later Sunday that Kim went to Afghanistan to mobilize all possible channels for an early hostage release.

   "Kim managed the situation in Afghanistan through close cooperation with Foreign Ministry officials," Cheon told reporters.

   Asked to comment on the controversy over Kim's direct involvement in negotiations and his excessive media exposure, Cheon said,"I heard that there was a debate within the NIS on Kim's trip to Kabul, but he expressed a strong willingness to go to Afghanistan."
"Kim was inevitably exposed to the media because the Afghan hotel where he was staying was the only safe hotel in Kabul," he explained.

   Cheon again repeated his denial of ransom payment by saying,"We have never paid any ransom (to the Taliban)."
ycm@yna.co.kr
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