Kidnapped SKoreans prepared to leave as Seoul denies ransom allegations

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - Nineteen South Koreans freed by Taliban kidnappers prepared to fly home Friday as their government denied allegations that it paid a ransom to end the six-week hostage standoff. Taliban spokesman Qari Yousef Ahmadi vowed to abduct more foreigners, reinforcing fears that South Korea's decision to negotiate directly with the militants would embolden them at a time of surging violence in the country.

"We will do the same thing with the other allies in Afghanistan, because we found this way to be successful," he told The Associated Press via cell phone from an undisclosed location.

The 19 hostages, all church volunteers seized as they travelled by bus in southern Afghanistan on July 19, were freed in separate handovers on Wednesday and Thursday under the terms of a deal struck between the Taliban and South Korean government representatives.

South Korean presidential spokesman Cheon Ho-seon said in Seoul the former hostages would be leaving Afghanistan later Friday on a flight to Dubai, and then travel onward to South Korea.

Originally 23 South Koreans were seized, but the militants killed two men soon after taking them, and released two women earlier this month in what they termed a "goodwill" gesture.

Under the terms of Tuesday's agreement, Seoul repeated a pledge it had made long before the kidnappings to withdraw its 200 troops in Afghanistan before year's end and vowed to prevent missionaries travelling to the country.

The Taliban apparently backed down from an earlier demand for a prisoner exchange.

A senior Afghan official close to the negotiations alleged Friday the South Koreans also paid a ransom.

"Definitely there was money but I don't know how much. I do not want to lie," said the official on condition of anonymity, because of the sensitivity of the topic.

Cheon dismissed the claim, which other Afghan officials have also aired in recent days.

"There is no additional agreement other than what has been made public," he said.

The Taliban has repeatedly denied receiving any money.

Rumours of multimillion dollar ransom payments have swirled around other deals to release foreign hostages held by criminal gangs or the Taliban in Afghanistan, but they are difficult to prove, not least because neither side has any interest in acknowledging them.

Foreign governments would be strongly criticized because ransom payments are thought to encourage kidnappings, whereas the Taliban's image as a political and religious movement would be sullied if its motives were exposed as criminal.

The Afghan government was not party to the negotiations, which took place in the central Afghan city of Ghazni and were facilitated by the International Committee of the Red Cross.

The final seven hostages were handed over Thursday to Red Cross officials in two separate exchanges close to Ghazni. The freed hostages did not speak to reporters.

The final three released - two women and a man - were handed over by armed men on a main road in Janda district after apparently walking through the desert for some distance. Covered in dust, they were quickly bundled into a Red Cross vehicle and driven away.

The men accompanying the three gave an unsigned note to journalists accusing the South Koreans of coming to Afghanistan on a mission to convert the staunchly Islamic country to Christianity.

"They came to our nation to change our faith," the handwritten note read. "The Afghan people have given their lives for their faith. This is the reason we arrested them."

The South Korean government and relatives of the hostages - all of whom belonged to a Presbyterian church close to Seoul - have insisted they were not engaged in missionary activities, but were doing aid work such as helping in hospitals.

In Washington, the State Department welcomed the hostages' release. When asked if South Korea's negotiations with the Taliban set a dangerous precedent, spokesman Tom Casey refrained from directly criticizing the Seoul government.

"I'd simply reiterate that the long-standing U.S. policy is ... not to make concessions to terrorists," he said.

South Korea has said it is not unusual to negotiate with hostage-takers.

Afghanistan has seen a spate of hostage-takings this year. The Taliban are still holding a German engineer and four Afghans kidnapped a day before the South Koreans.

© The Canadian Press, 2007