Korean hostages crisis to end 'peacefully'

KABUL, Afghanistan (CNN) -- Taliban talks with South Korea over the fate of kidnapped South Korean volunteer aid workers in Afghanistan are progressing well, a Taliban spokesman said, adding that he thinks "the situation will be solved peacefully."

The kidnappers have threatened to kill the 23 South Koreans, most of whom are women, if their demands are not met. They want Afghanistan to release a group of prisoners and South Korea to withdraw its 200 non-combat forces from Afghanistan, which Seoul already plans to do by the end of the year.

"Negotiation is going well between the Taliban and the Korean government, but not the Afghan government," Taliban spokesman Qari Mohammad Yousif Ahmadi said.

"We're optimistic that the situation will be solved peacefully. We hope it will be finished before 7 p.m. If not, we might give them more time."

The Taliban said on Monday that "since the Afghan government has not sincerely tried to solve the problem, this time we give another 24 hours to the Korean government to solve the matter."

After talks stalled Monday, it was announced that a new group of Afghan negotiators would begin talks with the Taliban kidnappers' representatives on Tuesday, Ghazni district governor Khawaja Mohammed Siddiqui told CNN.

The South Koreans were abducted July 19 from a bus in Ghazni province, about 100 miles (150 km) southwest of Kabul.

Afghan authorities have also established a special working commission to negotiate the release of a German engineer and five Afghan hostages, Khalid said Monday.

The group was seized on Wednesday in Maidan Wardak province in southern Afghanistan.

A second German engineer who was abducted with the group was killed. His body, which sustained bullet wounds, has been returned to Germany, according to German media reports.

The cause of death cannot be determined until an autopsy is performed in Germany.

An Afghan Foreign Ministry spokesman said the man died of a heart attack.

The Taliban claimed Saturday to have executed both engineers after the German government did not respond to its demands that it withdraw its troops from Afghanistan. E-mail to a friend

Journalist Tom Coghlan contributed to this report.

All About Afghanistan • Afghanistan War • The Taliban