AFGHANISTAN - July 25 - Hostage's Body Found In Afghanistan.

Authorities recover the bullet-riddled body of a South Korean hostage in central Afghanistan night. The male victim was discovered in the Mushaki area of Qarabagh district in Ghazni province, said the officer, close to where the 23 Korean church volunteers - 18 women and five men - were abducted on the main road south from Kabul last week. The Taliban accused the Afghan government and South Korean negotiators of failing to act in good faith after they rejected a list demanding eight named rebel prisoners be freed. "Since Kabul's administration did not listen to our demand and did not free our prisoners, the Taliban shot dead a male Korean hostage", Qari Mohammad Yousuf, a purported Taliban spokesman, told Reuters by telephone from an unknown location. "If the administration of Kabul is not ready to release our hostages, then by 1am [local time] the rest of the hostages will be killed", he said. "That time is the last deadline". He rejected Korean media reports that said the Taliban planned to free eight of the captives. However, AP reported that a western official said six women and two men hostages had been released by the Taliban and taken to the main US base in Ghazni province. Hamid Karzai, the Afghan president, has pledged not to swap prisoners for hostages after being criticised at home and abroad 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. South Korea's foreign ministry said it had not been able to confirm the reported killing. However, KBS, the South Korean public broadcaster, identified the victim as Bae Hyung-kyu, a 42-year-old South Korean pastor. The kidnappings have gripped the nation. Anxious family members of the hostages gathered at the offices of a non-governmental agency in Seoul to follow developments on television. Sounds of crying emerged when news came out that one of the hostages had been killed. About 1,000 people gathered in suburban Seoul around Saemmul church, which sent the volunteers to Afghanistan, to pray for their safe return, broadcaster YTN reported. The authorities have emphasised they were in Afghanistan to do relief work -- most are nurses or teachers - and were not there to proselytise. South Korea is the world's second largest source of missionaries after the US, with about 16,000 Christians evangelising in 173 countries. Others continued to hold candlelight vigils Wednesday night, bearing placards reading: Safe return of South Koreans kidnapped in Afghanistan, Withdrawal of South Korean troops". There are about 200 Korean troops involved in reconstruction in Afghanistan and the government has said they will return home by the end of the year.