Source:         www.assistnews.net

Date:            August 19, 2007

By Dan Wooding
Founder of ASSIST Ministries

AFGHANISTAN (ANS) -- Afghanistan's militant Taliban said Saturday it could kill more of its 19 South Korean hostages unless South Korean negotiators take an "active attitude" in talks to free them.

This news comes in a story from Yonhap News Agency in South Korea (http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr).

FREED: Two South Korean female hostages are seen after their release in Arzoo of Ghazni province, southwest of Kabul August 13. Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan freed two South Korean hostages Monday and handed them over to the Red Crescent. (REUTERS)

The story says, "It was the first time the Taliban threatened to kill more hostages since two female South Korean hostages were released on Monday, in what the insurgents called a 'goodwill gesture.""

A purported Taliban spokesman Yousuf Ahmadi was reported to have said in an indirect telephone interview with Yonhap News Agency, "Unless the South Korean side isn't active in negotiations as it did in the past, one or two hostages could be killed."

Ahmadi accused the South Korean negotiators of not responding after face-to-face negotiations on Thursday, adding the Taliban's demand to free their eight prisoners had "not changed."

In the meantime, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported on Saturday that talks over the release of the 19 South Korean hostages "have failed," citing Ahmadi.

"The negotiations have failed. The Taliban leading council is making its decision now on the fate of the hostages," Ahmadi was quoted as saying by AFP.

On July 19, the 23 South Korean volunteer church workers were kidnapped by the Taliban insurgents on a highway outside Kabul.

Bae Hyung-kyu, a pastor and the leader of the group, was found dead six days later with gunshot wounds to his head. Nearly a week after Bae's death, another male hostage Shim Sung-min was found shot dead.

On Friday, the two female hostages, Kim Gi-Na, 32, and Kim Kyung-Ja, 37, arrived in South Korea.

The Taliban has said more of the South Korean hostages could be killed if the Afghan government does not release jailed Taliban fighters.

"The Afghan militants are also demanding South Korea withdraw from Afghanistan its 200 soldiers, who are scheduled to return home by the end of this year," concluded the Yonhap story.