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South Korea will withdraw its troops from Afghanistan by the end of the year as planned despite a Taliban threat to kill a group of kidnapped South Koreans unless the soldiers are pulled out immediately, its foreign minister said Saturday.

"We are preparing to withdraw the troops as planned," Foreign Minister Song Min-soon said, adding that about 210 South Korean soldiers stationed in the war-torn country will "complete their mission by the end of this year and then withdraw."

Song said, "They can't just pack up and leave. They move as dictated by the military plan." South Korea has stationed army engineers and medics in Afghanistan for noncombat reconstruction missions as part of U.S.-led coalition forces.

Song told reporters the total number of South Koreans held hostage was 23, despite Taliban claims Friday that they kidnapped 18 South Koreans, including 15 women, in Afghanistan. The insurgents have threatened to kill them if Seoul doesn't withdraw its troops. A purported Taliban spokesman reiterated that at least 20 South Korean and German hostages would be killed at midday (Afghanistan time) unless those countries pull their troops out of Afghanistan.

News reports on Saturday said the insurgents threatened to kill 18 hostages unless the troops moved to pull out of Afghanistan by 4:30 p.m. (Korean time).

"They have got until tomorrow (Saturday) at noon to withdraw their troops from Afghanistan, or otherwise we will kill the 18 Koreans," said Qari Yousuf Ahmadi, who speaks for the Taliban, according to press reports. The provincial police chief in Afghanistan's Ghazni province said his forces were working carefully to not trigger any retaliatory killings by the Taliban. The insurgent group is also believed to be holding two German hostages kidnapped earlier in the week.

Song said his ministry is having difficulty making contact with the insurgents and has not "officially" received the Taliban demand.

He added that the kidnapped Koreans were believed to be safe as he wasn't given any report specifically indicating they were harmed.

"We don't currently have any particular information that suggests the kidnapped were harmed, even though it wasn't directly confirmed that they remained safe," he said.

Taliban fighters seized the South Koreans at gunpoint from a bus that was traveling to Kabul on a highway from the southern city of Kandahar on Thursday afternoon, according to local police.

The Foreign Ministry said most of the abductees were members of Saemmul Church in Seongnam, just south of Seoul, and they entered Afghanistan on July 13 to provide free medical services. The group was planning to return home Monday, ministry officials said.

The ministry established a task force to deal with the incident with its headquarters at the Korean Embassy in Afghanistan.

Song said the task force will hold a meeting in Afghanistan in several hours to discuss measures to free the hostages, indicating the team is on its way to the Middle Eastern country.

Currently, more than 200 South Koreans are in Afghanistan, the Foreign Ministry said, adding it will ask them to return home as soon as possible.
SEOUL, July 21 (Yonhap News)