Taliban kidnappers killed one of its 23 South Koreans hostages and will kill the rest if their demands are not met by 8.30pm tonight, a Taliban spokesman said.

The Taliban had complained the Afghan government had failed to release any Taliban prisoners as the kidnappers had demanded and as, according to the rebel spokesman, Korean negotiators had assured them Kabul would do.
"Since Kabul's administration did not listen to our demand and did not free our prisoners, the Taliban shot dead a male Korean hostage," Qari Mohammad Yousuf told Reuters by telephone from an unknown location.
"If the administration of Kabul is not ready to release our hostages, then by 1:00 am (local time) the rest of the hostages will be killed," Taliban spokesman Qari Mohammad Yousuf told Reuters by telephone from an unknown location.
"That time is the last deadline."

Afghan President Hamid Karzai has pledged not to swap prisoners for hostages after being heavily criticised both at home and abroad for releasing five Taliban from jail in March in exchange for an Italian reporter.
The kidnappings have made travel outside major cities risky for the thousands of foreign aid workers and United Nations staff in Afghanistan and may weaken support for military involvement among the more than 30 nations with troops in the country.
The 23 Korean church volunteers - 18 women and five men - were seized in Ghazni province on the main road south from Kabul last week.
Elsewhere in Afghanistan, Britain's foreign minister David Miliband joined Afghan President Hamid Karzai a determined effort by the Afghan government to root out deep corruption that is driving people into the arms of the Taliban.
"We both agreed very strongly that progress in Afghanistan depended on change from the bottom up as well as the top down and the message of national leadership and community engagement was very, very important," Miliband told reporters at British military headquarters in Lashkar Gah.
"No one needs to tell President Karzai that good government, clean government are absolutely essential to Afghanistan's future. He said that to us," Miliband said.

Frustration with Karzai's government over deteriorating security, corruption and crime is growing among Afghans.
British and American officials have been pressing Karzai to get tough on bribery rackets in central and local government and the judiciary that push local people towards Taliban militants.
Violence has surged in Afghanistan in the past 18 months, the bloodiest period since U.S.-led troops overthrew the Taliban government in 2001.
The Taliban are especially active in the southern provinces where British troops are based. A total of 64 British soldiers have been killed there.


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-470846/Taliban-set-execution-deadline-23-missionary-volunteers-killed.html