A team of South Korean missionaries who spent six weeks as hostages of the Taleban returned home from Afghanistan yesterday, amid a controversy about a multimillion pound ransom allegedly paid for their release.

Despite relief at the safe delivery from captivity, South Korean public opinion remains divided about the handling of the crisis by the Government and the conduct of the missionaries, who ignored warnings about the dangers of evangelising in a conflict-stricken and devoutly Islamic country.

“We went to spread God’s love and carry out his wishes,” the group said in a statement read out at Incheon air-port, Seoul, as its members stood with heads bowed, alongside photographs of two of their number who were murdered in captivity. “All of us returned from being on the verge of death and have been given our lives back. All of us owe a big debt to the country and the South Korean people. When thinking about the trouble we have caused them, it is proper for us to bow deeply and ask for your forgiveness. We apologize to the people for creating this anxiety, and to the Government for this burden. We express our gratitude to the people of Korea.”

Afterwards they were welcomed home in two contrasting ways. A group of Korean Protestants applauded them, holding placards with the words, “Brothers and Sisters, you have done nothing wrong. Do not hold your heads in shame”. And one man had to be restrained by police as he attempted to pelt the missionaries with eggs. The 19 missionaries were freed in two batches last week by Taleban commanders in southern Afghanistan, 43 days after being kidnapped from a bus in which they were travelling from Kandahar. Two women had been released a fortnight before, but two men, including the group’s pastor, had earlier been murdered.

There was no capitulation to the kidnappers’ first demand, that the Afghan Government release Taleban prisoners. Journalists in Afghanistan, however, quoted Taleban sources who claimed that a ransom, valued at between two and 20 million dollars, had been paid secretly by Seoul.

The South Korean Government denies this but, according to its official explanation, the Taleban released their captives without gaining any new concessions, a scenario that many in Afghanistan find farfetched. South Korea has promised to withdraw its contingent of 200 soldiers by the end of the year, a decision which had already been announced and scheduled. It will also ban missionaries from travelling to Afghanistan – but this was already official advice.

Many Afghans criticised their own Government for authorising direct negotiations with the Taleban.“This was a game which ended in the favour of the Taleban, from the very beginning to its end,” Shukria Barakzai, an Afghan MP, told Agence France Presse. “In short, this deal gives the Taleban legitimacy, publicity and identity.”

Kim Man Bok, the head of South Korea’s National Intelligence Service, denied that any money had been paid. In its coverage of the crisis, the South Korean media paid fascinated attention to the “sunglasses man”, an unidentified South Korean, assumed to be an intelligence agent, who was seen alongside Afghan Government officials and Taleban negotiators.

The Government has confirmed that it will ask the missionaries to repay the cost of their return first class air fares and medical treatment.

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