South Korean envoy to step up efforts in Afghanistan

GHAZNI, Afghanistan (Reuters) - 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".

In a first known contact with the outside, a South Korean woman hostage pleaded for help and a speedy release of all the hostages in a telephone interview with CBS News.

The weeping voice, which spoke in Korean and an Afghan dialect of Farsi, was believed to be that of Yoo Hyun-joo, a 32-year-old nurse.

"We are held here in very difficult conditions every day," Yoo spoke in Korean in a recording of the interview posted on CBS News Web site. "Please help us so that we can come out as soon as possible."

Yoo's brother said he could immediately recognize her voice, South Korea's Yonhap news agency said.

Seoul sent its chief presidential national security adviser, Baek Jong-chun, to boost coordination with the Afghan government in negotiations to free the Korean church volunteers.

He is expected to arrive in Afghanistan on Friday which could mean the Taliban may wait until 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 they would be released or not.

DEADLINE PASSED

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.

The past 18 months has seen rising violence in Afghanistan, with daily clashes between Taliban insurgents and Afghan and foreign troops.

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.

The fate of the 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 the day he was killed.

The Taliban accused the government and South Korean negotiators of failing to act in good faith after Kabul rejected demands for eight named rebels to be freed from prison.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai has pledged not to swap prisoners for hostages after being criticized for releasing five Taliban from jail in March in exchange for an Italian reporter.

But the president and ministers have remained silent throughout the latest hostage ordeal.

(Additional by Sayed Salahuddin in Kabul and Jack Kim in Seoul)