S. Korea, Germany, Britain working together to find their missing nationals

By Lee Chi-dong
SEOUL, June 15 (Yonhap) -- South Korea is in close cooperation with Germany and
Britain to locate their citizens presumed to have been kidnapped by a group of
insurgents in Yemen, officials here said Monday.

A 34-year-old South Korean woman, a member of an international relief group, is
believed to have been abducted with eight others from Germany and Britain last
Friday when they 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.
Eom had been tutoring children of South Korean medical workers in Sada since last
August. She was scheduled to return to Seoul this summer, according to her
family. Eight South Koreans are in Sada, working for the Worldwide Service, a
private international agency specializing in relief works in Yemen, the South
Korean government said.
"It is almost certain that she has been kidnapped, but no one has claimed
responsibility. The Yemeni government has not yet confirmed officially that this
is a kidnapping case, although foreign media report that they have been abducted,
based on informal comments by Yemeni officials," a South Korean foreign ministry
official said. "We are in close cooperation with the German and British
authorities to find their whereabouts."
South Korean Ambassador to Yemen Park Won-ho and his German and British
counterparts met with Yemen's Interior Minister Mutahar Rashad Al-Masri on
Sunday, he added.
The minister was quoted as telling the ambassadors that a Shiite rebel group, led
by Abdel Malak al-Hawthi, seems to be behind the incident.
But the group denied its involvement, saying the Yemeni government's accusation
is a conspiracy to launch a new war against the rebels, according to foreign news
agencies.
In March, four South Korean tourists were killed and three others were wounded in
Yemen from 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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