U.S. President George W. Bush and Afghan President Hamid Karzai agreed Monday that they would make no concessions to the Taliban to win freedom for the South Koreans, Reuters reported.
"Both leaders agreed that in negotiations for the release, there should be no quid pro quo for the hostages," Reuters quoted White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe as saying after the two leaders wound up the two-day summit at Camp David.
"The Taliban are brutal and should not be emboldened by this," the spokesman said.
South Korean people were disappointed with the outcome of the summit between the two leaders, although they have appealed to the United States and the Afghan officials to negotiate the release of the hostages.
"I hoped that they would bring a breakthrough. However, there have been only tougher position not to surrender to the Taliban's call for exchange of their prisoners with South Korean hostages," said a family member of one of hostages in Bundang, southern outskirts of Seoul.
Earlier, Taliban insurgents called on the two presidents to agree to free jailed rebels at Camp David talks, threatening that they would be responsible for the deaths of 21 Korean hostages.
The renewed Taliban threat came as negotiations to free their prisoners remained deadlocked with no agreement even on where to hold talks between South Korean diplomats and the kidnappers.
The Taliban have killed two of the 23 South Korean hostages and have repeatedly threatened to kill the remaining 18 women and three men unless the Afghan government agrees to free jailed rebels.
Both Bush and Karzai, however, mentioned nothing about the Korean hostages directly in a joint press conference after the summit.