Iraq high–risk zone for missionaries, warns S. Korea

Seoul, South Korea, Nov. 15, 2004 – South Korea, second only to US in terms of numbers of missionaries sent out to foreign nations, recently sounded a red alert and advised enthusiastic Christian missionaries from traveling abroad to Iraq till the political situation in the insurgency–torn nation had become more stable.

This official announcement was made by the Korean foreign minister soon after five Korean native missionaries were taken into protection by South Korean officials in Iraq and were flown back to their home country for their own safety.

South Korea has more than 12,000 missionaries in about 145 countries – a total second only to the United States with just over 60,000, according to the Korean World Missions Association.

The most fervent ones try to spread Christianity in communist and Muslim countries that are hostile to proselytizing.

''Asians stand out because of the difference in appearance from people from other countries and they will easily be spotted by terrorists if they ever go looking,'' Foreign Minister Ban Ki–moon told reporters recently.

South Korea has the third–largest foreign military contingent in Iraq.

A few months back, in June, a South Korean interpreter and devout Christian was beheaded by militants in Iraq, and the government has urged its citizens to leave Iraq.

The government says it cannot legally bar its citizens from traveling to Iraq but it is stepping up its warning not to go there after the recent decapitation of a Japanese hostage.

''I want to stress that there is a limit to how much the government can do to protect the citizens if they continue to enter without concern for their own security,'' Ban warned.

''The missionaries said they were prepared to die when they entered the country,'' Ban said. ''The current situation in Iraq is not one that will allow them to accomplish what they set out to.'' The missionaries had name tags with the word ''martyr'' after their names, the South's Yonhap news agency said.

A group of 2,000 Christians defied repeated government advisories in August and went to Israel for what they called a ''Jesus March'' between Bethlehem and Jerusalem.

According to news reports, seven missionaries were briefly held captive by militants in April as they drove from Jordan to Baghdad.