S Korea to withdraw troops from Afghanistan

South Korea plans to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan by the end of this year as scheduled, South Korea’s Foreign Minister said today.

“The government is in preparations to implement its plan” to pull its troops out of the war-ravaged country by the end of this year as previously planned, Foreign Minister Song Min-soon told reporters at a briefing. His comments came as Taliban militants threatened to kill at least 18 kidnapped South Korean Christians, including 15 women, today unless Seoul pulls out its 200 troops from Afghanistan.