South Korea to negotiate for its hostages

SEOUL – South Korea scrambled yesterday to negotiate the release of 23 Koreans kidnapped by the Taliban in Afghanistan as a purported deadline to swap them for imprisoned fighters loomed.

A delegation of South Korean officials arrived in Afghanistan for talks with Afghan authorities on how to win the freedom of South Koreans, according to South Korea’s Foreign Ministry. Communication has started with the hard-line militia, a senior official said.”We are in a stage of exchanging each other’s position through contacts,” the official told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity, citing the sensitivity of the issue.However, the official declined to comment on the Taliban’s purported demand to trade 23 South Korean hostages for an equal number of Taliban prisoners.UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, a South Korean, also spoke by phone to South Korean Foreign Minister Song Min-soon and pledged to cooperate for the resolution of the kidnapping issue, the ministry said.Earlier Sunday, South Korea’s Defence Ministry said it has begun preparations to pull its troops out of Afghanistan by the end of this year as previously scheduled, hoping to appease the militants.A purported spokesman for the militant group had said that it would kill the South Koreans on Saturday if Seoul didn’t withdraw its troops from Afghanistan.But he later changed that demand, saying the Afghan and South Korean governments had until 14h30 yesterday to agree to the release of 23 Taliban militants or the hostages would be killed.Neither the South Korean nor Afghan governments have commented on the purported offer.US and Afghan forces moved into the region in southern Ghazni province where the Koreans are thought to be but haven’t started any offensive operations, the Afghan Defence Ministry said.South Korea has about 200 troops serving with the 8 000-strong US-led coalition in Afghanistan, largely working on humanitarian projects such as medical assistance and reconstruction.The South Korean government informed parliament late last year that it would terminate its military mission in Afghanistan before the end of this year.South Korea ‘has already kicked off preparations as it takes about five to six months’, to bring home troops, a top Defence Ministry official told several lawmakers, according to Kim Sung-gon, chief of the parliamentary defence committee.The Defence Ministry confirmed the comments but stressed that the process had begun well before the Taliban demanded the withdrawal of South Korean troops from the war-ravaged country.Nampa-APCommunication has started with the hard-line militia, a senior official said.”We are in a stage of exchanging each other’s position through contacts,” the official told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity, citing the sensitivity of the issue.However, the official declined to comment on the Taliban’s purported demand to trade 23 South Korean hostages for an equal number of Taliban prisoners.UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, a South Korean, also spoke by phone to South Korean Foreign Minister Song Min-soon and pledged to cooperate for the resolution of the kidnapping issue, the ministry said.Earlier Sunday, South Korea’s Defence Ministry said it has begun preparations to pull its troops out of Afghanistan by the end of this year as previously scheduled, hoping to appease the militants.A purported spokesman for the militant group had said that it would kill the South Koreans on Saturday if Seoul didn’t withdraw its troops from Afghanistan.But he later changed that demand, saying the Afghan and South Korean governments had until 14h30 yesterday to agree to the release of 23 Taliban militants or the hostages would be killed.Neither the South Korean nor Afghan governments have commented on the purported offer.US and Afghan forces moved into the region in southern Ghazni province where the Koreans are thought to be but haven’t started any offensive operations, the Afghan Defence Ministry said.South Korea has about 200 troops serving with the 8 000-strong US-led coalition in Afghanistan, largely working on humanitarian projects such as medical assistance and reconstruction.The South Korean government informed parliament late last year that it would terminate its military mission in Afghanistan before the end of this year.South Korea ‘has already kicked off preparations as it takes about five to six months’, to bring home troops, a top Defence Ministry official told several lawmakers, according to Kim Sung-gon, chief of the parliamentary defence committee.The Defence Ministry confirmed the comments but stressed that the process had begun well before the Taliban demanded the withdrawal of South Korean troops from the war-ravaged country.Nampa-AP