Advertising Read more Paris (AFP) A South Korean hostage rescued by French special forces in Burkina Faso last week was a tourist travelling in the region who had been seized close to the border with Benin, an embassy official said on Monday. The woman, who has not been named, was flown to Paris on Saturday after being rescued in a raid by French commandoes overnight Thursday-Friday in which two soldiers died. "She was just travelling, she wasn't working. She had been on the road for close to one year," an official in the South Korean embassy in Paris told AFP. He added that the "regular tourist" had asked for her identity to be kept private. She had previously visited Senegal and Mali in west Africa, as well as other countries during a major trip from her home,a region "in the middle of South Korea," the official said. She was snatched around a month ago by armed men while attempting to cross by car from Burkina Faso into neighbouring Benin, apparently along with an American woman who was also rescued by the French forces. "That is my understanding (that the women were together), but we don't speak for the American lady," the official added. The US government has declined to comment about its national, but the ABC news channel has reported she was also a tourist, aged in her 60s. - 'Going home' - The South Korean woman, who appeared in between the two French hostages as they made a statement to the media on Saturday in Paris, has been admitted for a medical check up at a military hospital in Paris. "She doesn't have any particular problems," the official said. "She will be going back home, today or tomorrow." The embassy official confirmed that the woman had been held for 27-28 days in captivity and had been "moved from one place to another a few times". Asked about the identity of the hostage-takers, "she said she didn't know," the official added. "We dont know. You have to check with the French government." The official confirmed that the South Korean government had been unaware that one of its citizens was being held in the area. France's defence minister, Florence Parly, had previously told reporters that French forces staging the rescue had been surprised to find the South Korean and American women being held hostage alongside the two French tourists. - Freed from 'hell' - Parly did not say who was responsible for the kidnappings, but said the hostage-takers were planning to transfer their victims to Islamist groups in Mali who are aligned to either Al-Qaeda or Islamic State. The French hostages, Patrick Picque and Laurent Lassimouillas, admitted that they should have heeded the French foreign ministry's advice on avoiding risky areas after they were seized in Benin close to the border with Burkina Faso. "We certainly should have better taken into account the government's advice as well as the complexities of Africa," Lassimouillas said in a statement. "Our first thoughts go to the families of the soldiers who freed us from this hell," he added. French President Emmanuel Macron will lead a commemoration ceremony for the slain commandoes in Paris on Tuesday at the Invalides military hospital and museum. ? 2019 AFP<doc-sep>PARIS, (Reuters) - French special forces who rescued four people, including two French citizens, being held by militants in Burkina Faso on Friday had not been aware of the presence of the American and South Korean hostages, France’s Armed Forces Minister said. “We were not aware of their presence ... the American will be repatriated separately,” Florence Parly told a news conference. “The contacts (with those countries) show that these countries were not necessarily aware of their presence.” Two French commandos and four kidnappers were killed in the night-time operation, Armed Forces Chief Francois Lecointre said. He added that the American and Korean had been held for 28 days.<doc-sep>Soldiers Cédric de Pierrepont (left) and Alain Bertoncello, who were killed in a military operation in Burkina Faso on Friday. Photo: French Army via AP<doc-sep>Three hostages freed by French commandos from militants in Burkina Faso have arrived in Paris, expressing sorrow at the death of two French soldiers in the rescue operation. President Emmanuel Macron welcomed the hostages as they stepped off the French government jet overnight (Saturday local time). It comes less than 48 hours after French special forces stormed their captors’ hide-out in a daring night-time raid. The two Frenchmen, identified as Patrick Picque and Laurent Lassimouillas were kidnapped while on safari in Benin more than a week earlier. An American woman and a South Korean woman were being held with them and were liberated in the high-risk mission authorised by Macron. The American, who has not been identified, was being repatriated separately. “All our thoughts go to the families of the soldiers and to the soldiers who lost their lives to free us from this hell,” Laurent Lassimouillas said as he met Burkinabe President Roch Kabore in Ouagadougou. The French government identified the two soldiers killed as Cedric de Pierrepont and Alain Bertoncello. Macron will lead a national tribute to the men, both officers in the naval special forces, at the Les Invalides military hospital and mausoleum in Paris on Tuesday. Lassimouillas also expressed regret over the death of the Beninese park guide, who was shot dead when the two tourists were kidnapped. French officials said on Friday it was not yet clear who had kidnapped the tourists in Benin but that their captors planned to hand them over to an al- Qaeda affiliate in neighbouring Mali. Jihadist groups with links to al-Qaeda and Islamic State have expanded their presence across west Africa’s Sahel region, a strip of scrubland beneath the Sahara desert, in recent years and taken a number of Western hostages. France, the former colonial power in the region, intervened in Mali in 2013 to halt an advance by Islamist militants and has kept about 4500 troops in the Sahel since then. Defence Minister Florence Parly said the message to terrorists was clear. “Those who want to attack France, the French, should know that we will hunt them, we will find them, and we will kill them,” he said. Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said France was doing all it could to secure the release of another French hostage, Sophie Petronin, who was kidnapped by gunmen in December 2016 in the northern Malian city of Gao.<doc-sep>
French soldiers led a raid to rescue two tourists who had been kidnapped in the West African country of Burkina Faso, and ended up also freeing an American and a South Korean who they were unaware were being held. Several U.S. officials told ABC News that the U.S. government was unaware until Friday that the American woman was being held. The raid resulted in the death of two French soldiers. The two former French hostages and Korean hostage were brought to the Presidential Palace of Kosyam in Ouagadougou at about 8:50 a.m. local time on Saturday. French hostage Laurent Lassimouillas paid tribute to the French soldiers killed during the operation in a short statement, saying, "All our thoughts go to the families of the soldiers and the soldiers who lost their lives to free us from this hell, we wanted to offer our condolences right away." The U.S. woman was not with the other three rescued hostages. Her name has not been released, but a U.S. official described her as being in her 60s. U.S. forces were not involved in the raid, French defense officials said at a news conference in Paris, but did provide some intelligence support, which helped French forces locate the hostages and their kidnappers. “It seems these two other hostages [the American and South Korean] had been held hostage for 28 days,” said Francois Lecointre, the chief of staff of the French armed forces. French Minister of the Armed Forces Florence Parly said French authorities “don’t know much" about the American and South Korean women but that “they are in a safe place.” Conversations with U.S. and South Korean officials appeared to confirm that neither country had known about the hostages, Parly said. French officials didn’t share the American’s identity or provide any more information about her. The spokesperson with the U.S. State Department confirmed that an American had been freed, but would not say if U.S. officials were aware, prior to the raid, that an American woman was being held hostage. “We are grateful for the successful recovery of four hostages, including a U.S. citizen,” the spokesperson said. “We offer sincerest condolences to the families of the two French soldiers killed during the operation.” The two French tourists had been on safari in the Pendjari National Park in Benin, near the Burkina Faso border, when they disappeared along with their tour guide on May 1. Three days later, the tour guide, identified as Fiacre Gbedji, was found dead in the park, according to Benin’s Ministry of Interior and Public Safety. Al-Qaida and ISIS were known to operate in the area, officials said at the press conference, but they did not say that either of those groups, or any Islamist extremist groups, were involved. The French soldiers who died have been identified as Cédric de Pierrepont and Alain Bertoncello, and both were under the command of the special operations, the French president said in a statement. ABC News' James Meek contributed to this report.