The Pakistan-based Afghanistan Islamic Press news agency quoted a government negotiator as saying the Taliban had handed over a list of eight prisoners they want released and a longer list was still to come.
Continued abductions by the Taliban risk weakening public support for military involvement among the 37 NATO nations contributing forces to Afghanistan.
RISE IN VIOLENCE
Most of the Koreans are in their 20s and 30s, and include nurses and English teachers. It is the largest abduction of foreigners in the Taliban campaign to oust the Afghan government and eject foreign troops.
The Koreans were seized a day after the Taliban kidnapped two Germans engineers and five Afghans southwest of Kabul.
One of the Germans has died, apparently killed by his captors, while the other and four Afghans are still in captivity. The fifth Afghan managed to escape.
The Taliban are demanding the release of 10 of their imprisoned fighters or the withdrawal of Germany's 3,000 soldiers serving with NATO forces in Afghanistan. They have set no deadline for their demands.
Germany has refused to withdraw its troops.
The abductions coincide wi1th a rise in violence in the past 18 months, the bloodiest period since U.S.-led and Afghan forces overthrew the Taliban in 2001.
In previous kidnappings, the Taliban have killed some of the foreign and Afghan hostages, but have freed others in exchange for ransom or the release of imprisoned comrades.
The Afghan government came under harsh criticism at home and abroad for freeing a group of Taliban in return for the release of an Italian journalist in March.
