PERSECUTION WATCH:S Korea urges release of hostages

South Korea's president has urged the release of 18 citizens held captive in Afghanistan,saying he will make "sincere efforts" to win their freedom.Roh Moo-hyun made his appeal after Taleban insurgents threatened to kill the captives unless South Korea's 200 troops left the country.South Korea already plans to withdraw its troops by the end of the year.Foreign Minister Song Min-soon had earlier said that Seoul would stick to its schedule.
"We have only several months to go... You cannot withdraw 200 people overnight," he said.The Taleban said on Saturday they had killed two Germans taken hostage in a separate abduction.The Koreans were taken at gunpoint while travelling in a bus from Kandahar city to the capital, Kabul, on Thursday.They were reportedly Christians on an evangelical and aid mission. At least 15 are said to be women.The seizure was the largest-scale abduction of foreigners since the fall of the Taleban regime in 2001, according to the Associated Press.
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