Taliban Agree to Free S. Korean Hostages

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Aug. 28 -- South Korean negotiators and Taliban leaders have reached an agreement that will allow for the release of 19 hostages from a South Korean church who have been held captive by Afghan insurgents for nearly six weeks, officials in Afghanistan said Tuesday.

While the hostages had not been released as of late Tuesday, officials said they would be freed within the next few days and that both sides were satisfied with the terms of a deal completed earlier in the day.

"In the very near future, all of the hostages will be released. It is a comprehensive agreement," said Reto Stocker, head of the International Committee of the Red Cross delegation in Afghanistan. The Red Cross had helped to facilitate the negotiations.

The Taliban initially took 23 South Koreans hostage, but two were killed by their captors and two were released. The church members were abducted July 19 in the central Afghan province of Ghazni as they traveled by bus along the treacherous highway linking the capital, Kabul, with the southern city of Kandahar.

In Seoul on Tuesday night, families of the hostages reacted to news of the agreement with whoops of joy, hugging and tears.

"I would like to dance," Cho Myung Ho, mother of 28-year-old hostage Lee Joo Yeon, told reporters after hearing of the deal.

But that outpouring of emotion and relief changed rather suddenly when many family members appeared later in a nationally televised press conference. They stood stoically in what seemed to be a show of collective remorse, as their spokesman apologized for a 41-day-long hostage drama that upset and inconvenienced the people and government of South Korea.

"We are very sorry to cause the nation so much concern and worry," said Cha Sung Min, whose 32-year-old sister Cha Hye Jin was one of the hostages.

South Korean presidential spokesman Cheon Ho Sun explained terms of the deal his government's negotiators had struck with the Taliban.

"The two sides reached agreement on the release of all 19 Korean hostages on condition that the Korean government withdraws its troops in Afghanistan by the end of this year and bans missionary work by Korean Christians in Afghanistan," he said.

South Korea, though, seemed to give up little of substance in its negotiations. Seoul had already planned to withdraw its 200 noncombat troops by the end of the year, and the government has long been trying to prevent missionaries from causing trouble in countries where they were not wanted.

The South Korean government said Tuesday night that release of the hostages would not happen immediately, noting that further negotiations would be necessary.

A Korean news agency, Yonhap, reported that hostages were being held in different locations and that they may be released in groups of about three at a time over a period of up to five days.

"When the hostages are released, we will send them to the Afghan capital of Kabul for medical checkups and take them to Korea as soon as possible," Cheon said.

He added that Korean negotiators had persuaded their Taliban counterparts, who wanted to swap Korean hostages for Taliban prisoners held in Afghanistan, that any such deal was far beyond the power of South Korea.

"The Taliban appear to understand our point," Cheon said. "It also seems that they were inconvenienced by holding as many as 19 people for such a long time."

Harden reported from Seoul.