 The Associated Press GAZA Palestinian militants Wednesday released three foreigners, a South Korean journalist and two French citizens, a day after seizing the hostages in response to an Israeli raid on a West Bank prison, Palestinian security officials said. The release of the hostages left just one foreigner, a Canadian, in captivity. Palestinian gunmen seized a total of 11 foreigners after the Israeli raid on Tuesday. Officials at the South Korean Embassy did not immediately confirm the release. They said the embassy had recently cautioned citizens against traveling to Gaza. In Seoul, officials said earlier that they had asked for help from both Israeli and Palestinian authorities in gaining the release. The journalist was identified as Yong Tae Young of KBS, the leading South Korean state TV broadcaster. He was abducted from his hotel in Gaza by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine on Tuesday. Lee Joon Gyu of the Foreign Ministry said Yong had called the South Korean Embassy in Israel and told them he was safe, but he did not elaborate on the demands of the militant group. Its leader is charged in connection with the assassination of an Israeli cabinet minister. The ministry said it would send a team of officials to the area. The South Korean foreign minister, Ban Ki Moon, who is traveling in Argentina, spoke by telephone early Wednesday with his Palestinian counterpart and had received promises that authorities would press for the journalist's release, the ministry said. The main South Korean journalist organization had urged Yong's immediate and unconditional release. A South Korean freelance cameraman working with Yong, Shin Sang Chul, narrowly escaped abduction and is now at the South Korean Embassy in Israel, Choo Kyu Ho, a spokesman for the Foreign Ministry, said. KBS said it had set up an emergency task force and dispatched seven reporters to the area.
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