The Taliban has extended the rapidly approaching deadline on the lives of 23 South Korean hostages captured in Afghanistan, saying they will not be killed today.
Qari Yousef Ahmadi, a purported Taliban spokesperson, says the Afghan and Korean governments now have until 7 p.m. ET Monday to respond to their demand of an equal exchange of prisoners.
They had earlier set a deadline of Sunday night and warned they would begin killing the Christian volunteers if the demands weren't met.
The extension comes on the same day villagers found the body of one of two German aid workers also held hostage by the Taliban. The remaining German is thought to be alive.
Seoul sent an eight member delegation to Afghanistan on Sunday to help try and negotiate the release of the prisoners. They met with President Hamid Karzai as well as the foreign affairs and interior ministers.
The Koreans, who were reportedly doing volunteer work at a hospital, were kidnapped on Thursday while travelling on a bus from Kabul to Kandahar.
South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun urged the Taliban to "send our people home quickly and safely."
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, himself a South Korean, also called Afghan President Hamid Karzai and expressed "grave concern" over the abductions.
South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported on Friday that they were members of Saemmul Community Church in Bundang, near Seoul.
German worker's body found
Also on Saturday, the body of one of two German aid workers taken hostage by the Taliban was recovered, a police chief said.
The German's body was found in southern Wardak province, the same area where the two workers were kidnapped along with five Afghans on Wednesday.
On Saturday morning Qari Yousef Ahmadi, who claims to speak for the Taliban, said the German was killed because his country hadn't taken steps to pull its troops from Afghanistan.
However, Afghan and German officials both said one of the Germans died of a heart attack, and the other was still alive. They are reported to be civil engineers who were working on a dam project.
"Everything indicates he was a victim of the stress of the kidnapping," German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said in Berlin.
The Germans also questioned Ahmadi's connection to the actual abduction, and suggested his information may not have been correct.
Provincial police chief Mohammad Hewas Mazlum said the cause of death was not immediately known.
With files from Associated Press
