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First breakthrough in the hostage drama

— Photo: AP

WALKING FREE: The South Korean hostages released by Taliban in Ghazni province, Afghanistan, on Monday.

GHAZNI: Two women among the 23 South Koreans kidnapped by the Taliban in mid-July were freed on Monday.

The hostages were brought to a rural Afghan roadside and then driven to a U.S. base in the first significant breakthrough in a hostage drama now more than three weeks old.

The two women, who broke into tears after seeing the International Red Cross officials there to take custody of them, got out of a dark gray Toyota Corolla driven by an Afghan elder and into one of two waiting Red Cross SUVs.

The women said nothing to reporters alerted to the handoff location 10 km southeast of Ghazni city by a Taliban spokesman.

The South Korean Foreign Ministry identified them as Kim Kyung-ja and Kim Ji-na. Previous media reports said they were 37 and 32 years old, respectively.

The women were then driven to the U.S. base in Ghazni city, where American soldiers searched and let them into the base.

The Taliban decided to release these two “for the sake of good relations between the Korean people and the Taliban,” said Qari Yousef Ahmadi, who claims to speak for the insurgent group. — AP

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