By AMIR SHAH
The Associated Press
Thursday, July 26, 2007; 2:50 AM

KABUL, Afghanistan -- Afghan police found the bullet-riddled body of one of 23 South Koreans held hostage by Taliban kidnappers, and officials scrambled Thursday to save the others.

An Afghan police chief ruled out using force to free the remaining captives and said that Afghan negotiators were speaking with the Taliban over the phone, hoping to secure their release.

Because of a recent spike in kidnappings _ including an attempt against a Danish citizen Wednesday _ police barred foreigners from leaving the Afghan capital without their permission.

South Korea said Thursday it would not tolerate the killing of an innocent civilian and vowed the kidnappers would be held accountable. It demanded the immediate release of the remaining hostages.

"The killing of an innocent civilian cannot be justified under any circumstance or for any reason," Baek Jong-chun, chief presidential secretary for security affairs, said in a statement. The kidnappers "will be held accountable for taking the life of a Korean citizen."

The South Korean victim was found Wednesday with 10 bullet holes in his head, chest and stomach in the Mushaki area of Qarabagh district in Ghazni province, the region where the group was seized July 19 while riding a bus, said Abdul Rahman, a police officer.

A police official, who asked not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the situation, said militants told him the hostage was sick and couldn't walk and was therefore shot.

South Korea's Foreign Ministry identified the victim as 42-year-old Bae Hyung-kyu, a founder of Saemmul Presbyterian Church who traveled abroad on volunteer missions twice a year.

After conflicting reports Wednesday from Western and Afghan officials that possibly eight of the other hostages had been released, South Korean presidential spokesman Chun Ho-sun said Thursday the 22 were still believed held but not suffering from health problems.

Chun said South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun had spoken with his Afghan counterpart Hamid Karzai, but did not disclose the contents of their discussion.

Ghazni police chief Ali Shah Ahmadzai said that the Afghan negotiators were speaking with the Taliban over the phone, in a hope of securing the hostages release.

"We are hopeful that by noon today we will reach some sort of deal for the release of six up to eight people," Ahmadzai said, without giving more explanation for his optimism.

Chun said that both governments were cooperating and that an Afghan official had told South Korea earlier Thursday that Kabul intended to negotiate with the Taliban. He said Seoul was aware of the Taliban's current demands but declined to specify them.

Seoul also repeated its call that no rescue mission be launched that could endanger the captives further.

"We oppose military operations and there won't be military operations that we do not consent to," Chun said.

Marajudin Pathan, the governor of Ghazni province, said militants have given a list of eight Taliban prisoners who they want released in exchange for eight Koreans.

An Afghan official involved in the negotiations earlier said a large sum of money would be paid to free eight of the hostages. The official also spoke on condition he not be identified, citing the matter's sensitivity. No other officials would confirm this account.

Foreign governments are suspected to have paid for the release of hostages in Afghanistan in the past, but have either kept it quiet or denied it outright. The Taliban at one point demanded that 23 jailed militants be freed in exchange for the Koreans.

The South Koreans, including 18 women, were kidnapped while on a bus trip through Ghazni province on the Kabul-Kandahar highway, Afghanistan's main thoroughfare.

South Korea has banned its citizens from traveling to Afghanistan in the wake of the kidnappings. Seoul also asked Kabul not to issue visas to South Koreans and to block their entry into the country.

Baek will fly to Afghanistan later Thursday as a presidential envoy to consult with top Afghan officials on how to secure the release of the remaining captives.

The South Korean church that the abductees attend has said it will suspend at least some of its volunteer work in Afghanistan. It also stressed that the Koreans abducted were not involved in any Christian missionary work, saying they provided only medical and other volunteer aid to distressed people in the war-ravaged country.

Two Germans were also kidnapped last week. One was found dead and the other apparently remains captive. A Danish reporter of Afghan origin escaped a kidnap attempt in eastern Afghanistan on Wednesday, the Danish Foreign Ministry said.

The unidentified man "was close to being caught but managed to get away and reach a local police station," Foreign Ministry spokesman Ole Neustrup said. The Dane was first reported to be German but that report was false, Khan said.

The series of recent kidnappings prompted the Afghan government to forbid foreigners living in Kabul from leaving the city without police permission.

Police said officials stationed at checkpoints at the city's main gates would stop foreigners from leaving the capital unless they informed officials 24 hours in advance of their travel plans, said Esmatullah Dauladzai, Kabul's provincial police chief.

Elsewhere, NATO's International Security Assistance Force said a soldier was killed in eastern Afghanistan on Wednesday by a rocket-propelled grenade. ISAF didn't release the soldier's nationality, but the majority of troops in the east are American.

Britain said one of its soldiers was killed and two others injured when an explosion struck their vehicle in southern Helmand province on Wednesday.

The U.S.-led coalition said 20 suspected Taliban militants were killed Wednesday after a failed ambush on coalition and Afghan troops in Kandahar province. In Helmand province, 50 suspected Taliban died in a 12-hour battle with coalition and Afghan forces that ended early Thursday, the coalition said.

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Associated Press writers Noor Khan and Jason Straziuso in Kabul, Afghanistan and Kwang-Tae Kim in Seoul, South Korea contributed to this report.