By Kim Yon-se
Staff Reporter
There is a possibility that a group of Afghan militia _ known as Taliban or its arm _ are making ``behind-the-scenes'' demands to the Korean government as a requisite for releasing the 23 kidnapped Koreans there.
``Their demands could be different from those made public by the media,'' Cheon Ho-seon, spokesman for Korean President Roh Moo-hyun told reporters Monday.
According to several foreign media, Taliban spokesman Qari Yousaf Ahmadi earlier demanded that the Afghan government (in consultation with the Korean or the United States governments) release 23 Taliban prisoners if it is interested in the safety of the Korean abductees. They requested to exchange an equal number of Taliban prisoners for Korean hostages.
Cheon declined to make public the undisclosed demands, saying, ``Their demands would be volatile according to the situation. They may be changed during negotiations.''
But he added that their complete demands are not seriously different from those known to the public.
Asked if the Korean government is negotiating with the U.S. government over a release of Taliban prisoners, the spokesman said there have been no high-level talks between the two sides.
He only said the government is consulting on the issue with lower-level U.S. officials including American Forces in Afghanistan.
He also hinted that Qari Yousaf Ahmadi, who identified himself as the Taliban spokesman, could not be the senior representative of the original Taliban.