The crisis of the South Korean hostages captured by Taleban forces in Afghanistan hits Korean leaders where they're most vulnerable. Seoul might have preferred not to have sent troops to Afghanistan or Iraq, but did so under United States pressure. As long as the US is keeping 29,000 troops in South Korea - on guard against a perpetual threat from North Korea - the Americans believe their Korean friends should show their gratitude by joining the grand alliance in the Middle East.
Now South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun, whose policy of rapprochement with the North has won only reluctant US support, is caught between the desire to show firm resolve and the need to win freedom for the hostages. He is running out of time. Taleban terrorists have killed at least two of the original 23 hostages and are threatening to kill the others.
The quickest way to placate the terrorists would be to arrange an enormous payoff, release Taleban prisoners held by the Afghan government and speed up withdrawal of South Korea's 200 troops, medics and engineers from the country. That solution would be fine by the same South Korean leftists who oppose the despatch of their people to the Middle East and have been calling for American troops to get out of South Korea.
While conservatives have been steadily regaining their strength in South Korea over the past two or three years, Mr Roh's left-of-centre government is appealing to the US to intercede with Afghan leader Hamid Karzai.
That request puts the US in a difficult position. How can Washington ask Mr Karzai to yield to Taleban demands when the US, allied and Afghan troops are fighting the Taleban?
The position of the US, South Korea and the Afghan government is all the more difficult considering that the hostages are all members of a Christian congregation which had gone to Afghanistan on a do-good 'volunteer' mission. South Korean negotiators are accustomed to dealing with the North Koreans, rewarding Pyongyang with infusions of aid in response to such good behaviour as the shutdown last month of the North's nuclear reactor.