LEAD: S. Korean team arrives in Afghanistan to seek release of hostages

KABUL, July 22 Kyodo

(EDS: UPDATING WITH ARRIVAL OF S. KOREAN DELEGATION IN KABUL, FINDING OF 1 GERMAN BODY)

A South Korean government team arrived here Sunday to work for the release of 22 South Koreans abducted in southern Afghanistan by Taliban militants hours before the deadline for their execution.

The delegation, headed by Vice Foreign Minister Cho Jung Pyo, is to hold talks with President Hamid Karzai and Foreign Ministry officials.

In Seoul, Yonhap News Agency quoted Foreign Ministry spokesman Cho Hee Yong as saying contacts are being made with the militant group through several channels.

The Taliban threatened to start killing the South Koreans at 7 p.m. if their demand for the release of Taliban prisoners is not met by that deadline.

However, a Seoul official, speaking earlier on condition of anonymity, said the government has yet to confirm whether the reported ultimatum was issued by the kidnappers, according to Yonhap.

The militants seized the group of South Korean Christians, including 18 women, traveling on a bus in the Qarabagh district of Ghazni Province late Thursday. The South Koreans had reportedly entered Afghanistan on an evangelical mission on July 13.

It was not immediately clear whether Kabul was ready to meet the militants' demand to release the Taliban prisoners.

In April, the government freed five senior Taliban commanders in exchange for the release of a kidnapped Italian journalist. However, Karzai later said it was a one-time decision by his government and that he would not agree to release any more militants.

A purported spokesman for the Taliban said Saturday the militants executed two German hostages along with their five Afghan colleagues who were kidnapped Wednesday, after similar demands were ignored.

The Taliban demanded the withdrawal of German troops serving under NATO in Afghanistan and the release of all Taliban prisoners held by Kabul.

Local police said Sunday the body of one of the Germans was found in a village in Wardak Province, central Afghanistan, adding the cause of death was not immediately clear.

''As the Korean government asks for the release of the hostages, we also have the right to ask for the release of our prisoners. We hereby ask for the release of our 23 Taliban brothers who are with the Kabul administration,'' said a statement quoting the Taliban council posted on the militants' website.

''If the government does not meet our demand by 7 p.m. Sunday, they will be responsible for anything that might happen to the Koreans,'' it said.

It also said the Taliban does not object to South Korea withdrawing its troops by the end of this year as scheduled. The militants had earlier demanded the immediate withdrawal of South Korean troops from Afghanistan.

Meanwhile, Khwaja Siddiqui, district governor of the Qarabagh district, told Kyodo News he had sent a new tribal delegation to the Taliban for negotiations Sunday morning. He said he had information that all the abductees were safe.

In a telephone conversation with President Hamid Karzai on Saturday evening, South Korean President Roh Moo Hyun urged him to secure the early release of the hostages, according to an Afghan Foreign Ministry official.

The abduction of the South Koreans is the biggest group of foreigners seized so far in the Taliban's campaign to oust the government and its Western backers.

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