S. Korean woman may have been kidnapped by rebels in Yemen: official

(ATTN: UPDATES throughout with ministry official's comments; CHANGES headline,
dateline)
SEOUL/DUBAI, June 14 (Yonhap) -- A South Korean woman appears to have been
kidnapped by a group of insurgents in Yemen along with eight other foreigners
including children, government officials in Seoul said Sunday.

"It is presumed that a South Korean woman has been kidnapped by a local armed
group. That is the government's official position for now," a foreign ministry
official told Yonhap News Agency. "We are in close cooperation with the Yemeni
interior ministry to find out more details."
He added the 34-year-old has been out of contact since last Friday, when she went
out for a picnic in the Sada province, about 200 kilometers north of the Yemeni
capital, Sanna. She was identified only by her surname Eom.
As a member of international medical assistance organization Worldwide Service,
Eom had been assisting South Korean medics in Sada since last August. She was
scheduled to return to Seoul this summer, according to her family.
Foreign news agencies reported earlier in the day that nine people including
relief workers from Germany and Britain were abducted by local rebels.
The Associated Press said the Yemeni government believes they have been abducted
by a Shiite rebel group.
But the South Korean official said Seoul has not received any formal confirmation
from the Yemini government. No one has yet claimed to have kidnapped those
workers, he added.
In March, four South Korean tourists were killed and three others were wounded in
Yemen due to a terrorist bomb attack in the historic city of Shibam, some 90
kilometers east of Sanna.
The South Korean foreign ministry issued a non-binding travel warning on Yemen
shortly after the attack.
lcd@yna.co.kr
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