SEOUL, August 29 (RIA Novosti) - South Korea's government confirmed Wednesday that Taliban insurgents had released twelve of 19 Korean Christian volunteers being held hostage in central Afghanistan, Seoul's Yonhap agency said.
The hostages, ten women and two men, were released in three separate groups, and handed over to the International Committee of the Red Cross, following an agreement reached in face-to face talks between South Korean and Taliban negotiators. The released hostages did not speak to reporters.
The remaining seven hostages are expected to be released in the next few days.
The Taliban abducted 23 South Koreans on July 19, hi-jacking their bus which was en route from Kabul to Kandahar on a humanitarian mission.
Militants earlier killed two male hostages and threatened to execute others, demanding that South Korea pull its military contingent out of Afghanistan, and that the Afghan government release imprisoned Taliban fighters in exchange for Korean hostages.
After a round of negotiations with South Korea on August 12, the Taliban released two female hostages.
Presidential spokesman Cheon Ho-seon announced after Tuesday's talks that an agreement had been reached to release the remaining hostages "on the conditions that South Korea withdraw its troops stationed in Afghanistan by the end of the year, and impose a ban on its Christian missionary activities in the Southwest Asian country."
The talks were held in offices of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in central Afghanistan. The ICRC participated in the three previous rounds of negotiations.
