August 13, 2007

Taliban Releases Two S. Korean Hostages

More than three weeks after taking 23 South Korean church volunteers hostage in the Ghazni province of Afghanistan, Taliban captors have released two female hostages in what they said was a show of goodwill. The two women, identified as Kim Kyung-ja and Kim Ji-na, were delivered to a Red Cross convoy on a deserted road this morning.

South Korean officials began talks with the militants on Friday. Taliban spokesman Qari Yousef Ahmadi said releasing the two hostages today was a gesture "for the sake of good relations between the Korean people and the Taliban," but reiterated earlier demands for the release of Taliban prisoners by Afghan and U.S. forces. The Afghan government, for its part, has taken any prisoner swap off the table.

The Taliban's gesture comes after militants executed two male hostages in the group late last month.

The Korea Times, CNN and the Glasgow Herald have more on the story. The London Guardian has a timeline of this and other Taliban hostage crises.

Posted at 7:15 PM
Posted to: Afghanistan, Asia, South Korea, Terrorism
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