|PIC1|The two South Korean women freed by Taliban kidnappers are reportedly in good condition and will fly home "very soon", a Korean embassy spokesman has said.

The women were undergoing medical checks in Afghanistan on Tuesday.

They are the first hostages to be released by the Taliban who kidnapped 23 Korean Christian volunteers from a bus in Ghazni province on the main road south from Kabul last month. The Taliban shot dead two of the male hostages.

The spokesperson from the Korean Embassy reported: "They are in a good condition and they are staying in a safe place under our protection and are undergoing medical checks."

He added that they would return to Korea "very soon, but still their flight schedule has not been fixed yet".

Taliban insurgents have said they agreed to free the two women as they were seriously ill. They were, however, able to walk to a waiting Red Cross vehicle at their handover yesterday, and both Korean and Afghan officials said they were relatively well.

The Taliban representatives said the release was a gesture of goodwill, to encourage the Afghan Government to free rebel prisoners in exchange for the remaining 19 captives, 16 of which are women.

The Taliban have threatened to kill the remaining hostages if their demands for the release of their prisoners are not met.

The Afghan Government has, however, flatly refused to free Taliban prisoners, saying that it would encourage more kidnappings in the future.