KANDAHAR, Afghanistan, 27 July 2007 — Taleban militants have extended until noon today the deadline to negotiate the release of 22 kidnapped South Koreans, a spokesman for the militants said yesterday.

The militants agreed to the new deadline following a request from the Afghan government, Taleban spokesman Qari Yousef Ahmadi said by satellite telephone from an unknown location.

“The deputy interior minister asked us to give them extra time until tomorrow noon (0730 GMT) to be able to handle the issue. The Taleban leading council decided to give them time until tomorrow (Friday) noon,” Ahmadi said.

The head of the Afghan government delegation negotiating the release of the South Koreans also confirmed the new deadline.

“We managed to extend the deadline... We are trying with all of our ability to win the safe and sound release of the South Koreans,” said head Waheedullah Mujadadi.

The extension comes after the “final” deadline set by the Taleban for a prisoner swap for the hostages passed at 1 a.m. (2030 GMT) Wednesday.

The Taleban said the South Korean Christians were still alive despite the “final” deadline passing, and the discovery of the bullet-riddled body of one of the hostages on Wednesday.

A South Korean envoy was headed for Afghanistan yesterday to spearhead efforts to free the hostages.

The militants dumped the body of the leader of the Korean Christian aid team in a desert area in the insurgency-hit south of the country.

South Korea identified the dead man as 42-year-old Bae Hyung-kyu, a Presbyterian pastor and the head of the mostly female aid mission, which was reportedly in the country to provide free medical services.

His body has arrived at the main US military base in Bagram, near the capital Kabul, and would be brought back to South Korea on the first available flight, the Korean news agency Yonhap said.

The rebels said they had killed him because talks with the Afghan government and South Korean officials to secure the release of eight insurgent prisoners had stalled.

However, the governor of Ghazni province, where the South Koreans were kidnapped, said that the negotiations were still ongoing. The South Koreans were seized while traveling on the road from Kabul to Kandahar last Thursday.

One of the hostages begged for help in an interview with CBS News, the network reported on its website yesterday.

“We are in a very difficult time. Please help us,” said the woman, who CBS said gave her name as Yo Cyun-ju. “We are all pleading for you to help us get out of here as soon as possible. Really, we beg you.”

The network said that Yo spoke to CBS News late Wednesday after an interview was arranged with a Taleban commander. She spoke in Korean and an Afghan dialect of Farsi, CBS added.

“All of us are sick and in very bad condition,” she said, begging Seoul and the international community to make a deal with the Taleban to win their freedom.

“We are in a dreadful condition,” she said. She went on to describe her captivity as a “very difficult life every day,” and “a very exhausting situation,” CBS reported.

The hostages, including 18 women, were abducted from a bus in the Ghazni province last week. Ghazni Gov. Mirajuddin Pathan urged the Taleban to at least free the women. “Keeping women as captives has not happened in Afghanistan’s history. They should release the women,” the governor said.