Officials of a South Korean construction firm will begin negotiations with kidnappers late Thursday to secure the early release of its nine South Korean employees abducted by armed insurgents in Nigeria the previous day, a foreign ministry official said.
The kidnapped workers of South Korea's Daewoo Engineering and Construction Co. remain safe, but their kidnappers have yet to make any clear demands for their release, the official said, while speaking on condition of anonymity.
"There have been contacts (with the kidnappers), but there has been no serious negotiations, so tonight's meeting will be the first contact to negotiate" the release of the workers, the official told a press briefing.
The remarks came a few hours after Vice Foreign Minister Kim Ho-young said the South Korean company and the kidnappers made initial contact Thursday morning.
"We are in talks with the kidnappers and we have confirmed through several channels that the kidnapped workers are safe," Kim told reporters.
A Daewoo official later confirmed the contact, saying the company "received a call from an unidentified group claiming to have kidnapped the workers."
The first face-to-face meeting with the kidnappers was expected to be attended by Daewoo officials in the West African state as the ministry official said the government will not attend actual negotiations because its involvement could give the wrong impression to the kidnappers.
The official said the meeting was expected to be held between 6 p.m. and 9 p.m. (Seoul time).
The nine South Korean workers, along with a local employee, were taken hostage at 4:50 a.m. Wednesday (Nigerian time) from their sleeping quarters at a construction site in the oil-rich Niger Delta region.
Foreign Minister Song Min-soon held a 15-minute telephone conversation from the Philippines early Thursday morning with Nigeria's acting foreign minister to "request the Nigerian government's full cooperation for the prompt and safe release of the kidnapped workers," the vice minister said.
Song arrived in the Southeast Asian country late Wednesday for the start of an annual meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) that also brings together the leaders of South Korea, Japan and China.
The Nigerian minister replied "with a sincere apology to the people of South Korea and the families of the kidnapped workers," according to Vice Foreign Minister Kim.
Kim also quoted the Nigerian minister as saying that Nigeria's "President Olusegun Obasanjo is taking a personal interest" in the incident and that his government will do its utmost to win the safe release of the workers at the earliest date possible.
A number of South Korean officials, including the country's ambassador to Cote d'Ivoire or the Ivory Coast, Lee Ji-ha, have been dispatched to the West African country to lead negotiations with the kidnappers, according to Foreign Ministry officials.
Deputy Foreign Minister Shim Yoon-joe also held a meeting earlier in the day with Nigeria's top envoy to Seoul, Ambassador Abba Abdullahi Tijjani, to again request the country's full cooperation.
This is the second time in less than a year that South Korean workers in Nigeria have been kidnapped.
A group of five South Koreans, including three Daewoo officials, was kidnapped last June from a construction site in the oil-rich Niger Delta. They were released three days later after their company allegedly paid an undisclosed amount of ransom.
Seoul, Jan. 11 (Yonhap News)
Negotiations to begin over release of kidnapped S. Koreans in Nigeria: official |
