The Taliban will free 19 South Korean hostages in the coming days without the release of Taliban prisoners, a Taliban delegate Mullah Bashir said Tuesday.

Bashir, who engaged in direct talks with South Korean officials, said the Taliban realized the South Korean government really could not press Afghan authorities to free Taliban prisoners, so the group changes its demands.

The Taliban and South Korean diplomats resumed face-to-face talks on Tuesday, and Bashir gave the above announcement after the talks.

Bashir said as the hostages are being held in different remote places in Ghazni province, it would take a few days to release all of them.

Meanwhile, the South Korean government confirmed the Taliban has agreed to release all hostages.

Presidential spokesman Cheon Ho-seon told a press conference that "The South Korean government welcomes the agreement on the hostage release."

The agreement was reached on conditions that South Korea withdraws its troops by the year's end and imposes a ban on its Christian nationals' missionary activities in Afghanistan, Cheon said.

The actual timing for the hostage release cannot be confirmed for now, he added.

On the other hand, Bashir said as the Taliban has demanded, the South Korean government promises it would withdraw its troops from Afghanistan by the end of this year.

The South Korean government would pull all its aid agencies from Afghanistan by the end of August, and would forbid all South Korean Christian organizations from entering Afghanistan, Bashir said.

And Afghan and foreign troops would suspend military activities in Ghazni province before the release of the hostages, he added.

Two Indonesian officials and head of local International Committee of the Red Cross attended Tuesday's talks, apparently working as mediators.

A total of 23 South Koreans were kidnapped by Taliban militants on a road in the central Ghazni province on July 19.

Taliban rebels shot dead two male hostages on July 25 and July 30 separately to press Afghan and South Korean authorities to meet their demands.

Two female hostages were released on Aug. 13 as the Taliban claimed it wanted to show "a good gesture" toward South Korean authorities.

The Afghan government has all along refused to release Taliban prisoners as the Taliban has demanded to exchange for the remaining 19 hostages.

Taliban militants have carried out kidnappings in Afghanistan over the past two years frequently, and some hostages were killed.

Editor: Yan