Aug. 28 (Bloomberg) -- Taliban militants have agreed to free all 19 South Korean hostages they are holding in Afghanistan, the government in Seoul said.

``The meeting with the Taliban ended successfully,'' Chun Ho Sun, spokesman for South Korean President Roh Moo Hyun, told reporters today. ``They have agreed to release all of the 19 hostages.''

The hostages were among a group of 23 church workers abducted by the Taliban on July 19. The militants shot dead two male hostages and threatened to kill more if their demands for the release of imprisoned Taliban members weren't met. Insurgents freed two female hostages earlier this month. The militants had also said they would kill the South Koreans if the government in Seoul didn't withdraw its forces from Afghanistan.

South Korea agreed to recall all its troops by the end of the year as scheduled and end Christian missionary activities in Afghanistan in return for the captives' release, Chun said. South Korea has about 200 soldiers in the country.

The two sides ``reached an agreement,'' the Associated Press cited Taliban spokesman Yousuf Ahmadi as saying. The negotiators and the captors held a face-to-face meeting today in the Afghan city of Ghazni, under the mediation of the International Committee of the Red Cross, Chun said without giving a date for the release of the hostages.

Mohammad Zahir, a tribal elder who has been a key negotiator with the Taliban, was cited by Agence France-Presse as saying the South Koreans ``will be freed in three or four days.''

Chun said, ``The release will not happen immediately. It will take time.''

The presidential spokesman said the negotiations included talks on the kidnappers' demand that the Afghan government free Taliban prisoners in return for the release of the hostages.

``We tried to persuade the Afghan government on this, but the Afghan government could not accept this,'' Chun said. ``I think the kidnappers understood and accepted this fact.''

To contact the reporter on this story: Heejin Koo in Seoul at hkoo@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: August 28, 2007 09:01 EDT