Taliban says S.Korea has broken promise

KABUL, Afghanistan, Sept. 3 (UPI) -- The Taliban vow to attack South Korean facilities in Afghanistan if Seoul does not keep a promise it made to secure the release of hostages, Yonhap reported.

The Islamic fundamentalist group claimed South Korea has not withdrawn all its citizens from Afghanistan as promised in the recent hostage release talks, the Yonhap report said Monday.

The Taliban abducted 23 South Korean church volunteers in July. Two of the hostages were later killed. Of the remaining 21, two women were subsequently released and the remaining 19 were freed last week.

Yonhap quoted Qari Yousuf Ahmadi, a purported Taliban spokesman, as saying his group had received information that some South Koreans were still in Afghanistan.

"If South Korea has broken its promise, then we will attack the South Korean embassy in Kabul and education facilities supported by Seoul," Ahmadi was quoted as saying.

The Yonhap report said that in the hostage deal, South Korea has pledged to pull its 200-strong medical and engineering unit out of Afghanistan by year’s end, withdraw other citizens, and stop isits by Christian missionaries.