Returned South Korean hostages embark on road to physical, mental recovery

South Koreans who returned from six weeks of captivity in Afghanistan reunited with their loved ones then took their first steps toward recovery by entering a hospital for physical and mental treatment.

Doctors and psychiatrists said a return to the lives they lived before their ordeal in the desert of the Central Asian country requires prompt and effective therapy, patience from their relatives and understanding by the general public.

Taliban insurgents seized 23 members of a Christian church group at gunpoint as they traveled by bus to carry out volunteer aid work for two weeks. The militants killed two men in the group but later freed two women after South Korea agreed to direct negotiations. The remaining members of the group left Afghanistan on Friday.

Initial checkups showed the 19 former hostages who arrived back in South Korea on Sunday are in overall good condition, though exhausted due to their long-term captivity, said Cha Seung-gyun, the head of the hospital where they were admitted.

Cha said it takes up to five months for people kidnapped for about 15 days to resume their daily lives, adding that they will undergo intensive psychiatric treatment for the next two weeks.

The two females released last month have been receiving treatment at a military hospital since returning home, but they joined the rest of the group Sunday at the private hospital in Anyang, just south of Seoul.

Chae Jeong-ho, a psychiatrist at the medical school of the Catholic University of Korea in Seoul, said the former captives may suffer from "a sense of survivors' guilt."

Chae, who is not involved in their treatment, said complicated emotional feelings resulting from an ordeal, including depression and anxiety, can be successfully treated with quick attention.

Separated into groups, the captives were regularly moved to new locations and subjected to death threats. One female hostage said she spent 20 days of the six-week captivity in a cellar and was constantly afraid.

The freed hostages and their family members held a tearful reunion at the hospital.

Most of the returnees initially looked pale, exhausted and tense. Later on, however, some began to appear more relaxed, engaging in quiet conversation with family members. Smiles became more common.

Relatives voiced concerns about the condition of the former hostages.

"She looks totally different," Kwak Ok-kang said of her 39-year-old daughter Yoo Jung-hwa. "She looks like she had a hard time mentally."

Kwak said her daughter didn't talk much, but rather "cried and cried. She looks so thin now."

Kang Ung-gu, a psychiatrist at Seoul National University Hospital, said most of the former captives are likely to suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder due to painful memories of their captivity.

"They need to take antidepressants and get psychological therapy to overcome" it, Kang said.

Kang said the ex-hostages are likely to suffer from a sense of fear and have nightmares associated with the kidnappings, with public criticism directed at them over the saga possibly making things worse.

Many in South Korea have been critical of the church group, questioning why it went on a volunteer trip to Afghanistan, a country racked by war and civil strife such as suicide bombings.

Critics even accuse them of undermining South Korea's international standing by forcing the government to negotiate directly with the Taliban _ a move widely seen abroad as a violation of international principles regarding contact with terrorists.

Chun Woo-taek, a psychiatry professor at Seoul's Severance Hospital, said questions from reporters and unintended harsh language by family members who lack understanding of their mental state are major potential causes of additional stress.

The comments by Chun, who has been involved in treatment of the two females released earlier, were carried in a statement released by the families. Chu could not be reached for comment.

Chun said that the two _ Kim Gina and Kim Kyung-ja _ were suffering from mental confusion and hardship as well as sleeping difficulties due to the psychological pain resulting from the deaths of their team members.

Still, Chun said they had regained some mental stability.

Catholic University's Chae said the kind of public opprobrium that has been directed at the returnees could even shake their Christian faith while causing confusion over their sense of values.

He said recovery will come quicker if the patients emotionally recount their experiences.

Chung Moon-yong, a psychiatrist at Seoul's Veterans Hospital, agreed with the therapeutic effects of such expression but cautioned it shouldn't be applied until after their mental and physical condition has stabilized following medication and rest.

"The expression of emotions could worsen their condition by making them revive" the painful memories in initial treatment, he said.

Yoo Kyung-shik, at 55 the oldest of the hostages and who spoke on behalf of the group to reporters upon arrival in South Korea, simply asked his compatriots for patience.

"Please give us some time to recover and we will tell you everything," he said.

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Associated Press Writer Hyung-jin Kim in Anyang, South Korea, contributed to this report.