Korean spy master talked with Taliban

SEOUL, Sept. 6 (UPI) -- South Korea's National Intelligence Service said the release of 19 hostages in Afghanistan was negotiated by South Korea's spy master.

The National Intelligence Service said Kim Man-bok secretly traveled Aug. 22 to "personally command the negotiations from the front line" when "the situation called for a breakthrough," the International Herald Tribune reported Thursday.

Kim said he decided to travel to Afghanistan himself because communications between Seoul and the site of the negotiations was poor "and we didn't want the others to listen in. So it became necessary for me to go to Afghanistan and direct the negotiations from the field," the Herald Tribune said

Kim returned to South Korea with the 19 hostages, Christian aid workers who had been kidnapped by the Taliban.

The announcement of Kim's role in the release has been criticized by some who called the spy master an "exhibitionist" for publicizing the National Intelligence Service's usually clandestine operations.

South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun singled out the contributions of National Intelligence Service agents who made "a great contribution while risking their lives" during the rescue operation, the International Herald Tribune report said.