Taliban frees 2 S. Korean hostages

Two of the released South Korean hostages are seen after they were released by the Taliban on Monday in Ghazni province, west of Kabul, Afghanistan.

? Taliban kidnappers freed two South Korean female hostages Monday, a move the fundamentalist militants described as a gesture of goodwill while they negotiate the fate of the 19 other Christian aid workers they still hold.

The two women were released into the custody of Afghan elders and then handed over to the International Committee of the Red Cross in a rural roadside exchange just west of Ghazni province, where they were abducted while traveling with a group of 23 South Korean volunteers July 19.

The Taliban have murdered two male hostages, including the leader of the church group. They continue to hold 16 women and three men.

Both women released reportedly had been ill, with their conditions said to be life-threatening, according to a purported Taliban spokesman.

But both were well enough to walk from the vehicle driven by an Afghan elder to the waiting Red Cross vehicle, said reporters who had been alerted to the release.

“The two female Koreans were released by the Taliban, first because both were sick, and second, this was the positive results of the negotiations between Taliban and Korean delegations,” said Ghazni Gov. Mijardden Patan in a telephone interview.

South Korea’s Foreign Ministry identified the freed women as Kim Ji-na, 32, and Kim Kyong-ja, 37. The government said they would undergo medical checkups by a South Korean military unit stationed at the Bagram air base, near Kabul, before returning to Seoul.

Patan insisted that no deal had been made for the release of the hostages. South Korean Foreign Minister Song Min-soon said his government was “moving to win the rest of our citizens held hostage through various means,” according to South Korea’s Yonhap news agency.

The Taliban have demanded trading the South Korean captives for an equal number of their captured fighters. That has been rejected by the Afghan government, which in March came under criticism for swapping five Taliban prisoners for a kidnapped Italian journalist.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai recently reiterated that such exchanges would only encourage more kidnappings.