Japan's Afghan Rescue Personnel '0'... "Ransom Higher Than Koreans," Netizens' Bizarre Claim

Former Afghan collaborators who helped Korea and their families arrived at Incheon Airport on the afternoon of the 26th using our Air Force's multipurpose aerial refueling transport aircraft and are moving by bus to temporary quarantine facilities. / Photo by Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Ju-hyung] The Japanese government dispatched Self-Defense Forces transport planes to help evacuate its nationals and locals stranded in Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, but has yet to evacuate a single person. Amid this, a bizarre claim has emerged that the reason for the setbacks in the evacuation operation is the "high ransom value of Japanese nationals," drawing attention.

On the 26th (local time), a Japanese netizen tweeted, "I don't really want to say this, but the Taliban weighed 'which has more value as hostages for ransom, Japanese or Koreans?'" and added, "In other words, they considered Koreans to have no value at all."

This implies that Koreans were easier to evacuate because their ransom value as hostages was low, whereas Japanese nationals faced difficulties in the evacuation operation due to their higher value.

A tweet posted by a Japanese netizen / Photo by Twitter capture

According to Japanese local media such as NHK, on the night of the 25th, one Self-Defense Forces transport plane landed at Kabul airport, but no evacuees arrived at the airport, resulting in no one being evacuated. The Japanese government requested evacuees to move to the airport on their own, but it is known that access is difficult due to the chaotic situation in Kabul.

It is estimated that there are nearly 500 people targeted for transport by the Japanese government in Kabul. Among them, there are almost no Japanese nationals; most are Afghan staff and their families who worked at the Japanese embassy and other locations.

On the 24th, Muhammad Naeem, Taliban spokesperson, said in an online interview with TV Asahi, in response to a reporter's question about whether the safety of Japanese nationals evacuating by Self-Defense Forces aircraft could be guaranteed, "There is no problem. We are giving each country's nationals the opportunity to return home," but added, "We do not want Japanese troops to continue residing here, and the evacuation activities must be completed quickly."

Meanwhile, the South Korean government successfully evacuated 377 local collaborators and their families safely to Korea on the 26th.

In the evacuation operation named "Miracle," the government judged that it would be difficult for evacuees in the area to gather at the airport on their own, so it mobilized six buses to pick up evacuees gathered near the airport, passed through Taliban checkpoints, and arrived at Kabul airport.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.