"I can't save them. I wish I could just die."
Tables have been set up for reporters at the five-storey church in a room where colourful pictures drawn by the children of parishioners hang on the walls.
The church sits in a commuter district of Seoul where steeples, some adorned with red neon crosses, interrupt a skyline of narrow apartment buildings standing like rows of dominoes.
PRESSURE ON WASHINGTON
Je Mi-sook said her brother, held in Afghanistan, donated as much of his time and money as possible to charity.
"It's heartbreaking to see the Taliban making these demands and putting lives at risk -- when we are all the same human beings," she said.
South Korea, which sends the second largest number of Christian missionaries abroad after the United States, has tried to block evangelical church groups from going to Afghanistan because of fear for their safety.
The relatives and the presidential Blue House know that South Korea has little to bargain with and both called for help and flexibility from the international community.
"The United States' influence on the Afghanistan government is extremely important. It can play a necessary role in exchanging the Korean hostages for Taliban prisoners," said Kim Won-wung, a senior lawmaker with the pro-government Uri Party.
Choi Jin-tae, head of the Korea Research Institute on Terrorism said there is the possibility of an anti-U.S. backlash in South Korea if things get even worse for the hostages and the South Korean public feels Washington did not do enough.
Anxious husband Ryu says he will wait in the church with other relatives praying for a peaceful outcome.
"We are their family, so we can't stop hoping."
