South Korean envoy to step up efforts in Afghanistan

South Korea sent a senior envoy to Afghanistan on Thursday to step up efforts to free 22 Christian volunteers held hostage by the Taliban after rebels killed the leader of the church group. A Taliban spokesman said the remaining hostages were unharmed, despite the passing of a deadline overnight.
"They are safe and alive," Taliban spokesman Qari Mohammad Yousuf told Reuters by telephone from an undisclosed location. The Afghan government, he said, "has given us hope for a peaceful settlement of the issue".
Seoul despatched its chief presidential national security advisor, Baek Jong-chun, to boost co-ordination with the Afghan government in negotiations to free the Koreans.
He is expected to arrive in Afghanistan on Friday which could mean the Taliban may wait till at least then to see what offer, if any, he brings. The hostages, including 18 women, were abducted from a bus in Ghazni province last week. Ghazni's governor Mirajuddin Pathan urged the Taliban to at least free the women.
"Keeping women as captives has not happened in Afghanistan's history. They should release the women," the governor said. He said the Taliban had given the Afghan government a list of prisoners they wanted freed as part of an exchange, but he could not say if the central government would release them or not.
The Taliban had given the Afghan government until 2030 GMT on Wednesday to agree to exchange the group for imprisoned rebels, but the deadline passed without word from the kidnappers until Yousuf spoke on Thursday morning.
General Ali Shah Ahmadzai, provincial police chief of Ghazni province where the 22 remaining hostages were being held, told Reuters the government was keen to resume negotiations with the kidnappers. He also believed the hostages were safe.
The fate of the 22 Christian volunteers had hung in the balance overnight, after the rebels killed one hostage and dumped his bullet-ridden body near where the group were seized last week. He was identified as the group's leader, Bae Hyung-kyu, a pastor who turned 42 on the day he was killed. South Korea strongly condemned Bae's killing, calling it an unforgivable atrocity.
"The government and the people of South Korea condemn the kidnapping of innocent civilians and the atrocity of harming a human life," said Baek before he left for Afghanistan.