Korean worker in Indonesia kidnapped

Kwon Oh-Duck, deputy chief of Korea KorIndo Group, which operates a timber mill in Irianjaya, at the eastern extremity of Indonesia, and 10 local employees were kidnapped Tuesday by an armed independence group.

Members of the armed independent movement organization, called the OPM, in a jungle, about 300 kilometers north of Irianjaya, forcibly took the 11 officials.

¡°OPM members armed with bows and knifes stopped Kwon and others who were moving to a field office on a truck after finishing a felling operation, and kidnapped them,¡± a KorIndo official said.

KorIndo dispatched a countermeasure team, headed by Lee Hyun, chief of the timber business headquarters, immediately to the OPM base Wednesday and they were engaging in negotiations with the OPM for the release of the hostages.

¡°William Konde, leader of the OPM, seems to have ordered the kidnapping after developing a grudge against KorIndo, as his request for money to buy liquor was rejected,¡± the KorIndo official said.