Three of the female captives were released after a deal between the Taleban and the Korean Government.
The hostages were released into the care of officials of the International Committee of the Red Cross at two separate locations in central Afghanistan close to the city of Ghazni, according to an Associated Press reporter on the scene.
The first group of three women were released in the village of Qala-e-Kazi. Several hours later, four women and one man were released in a desert close to Shah Baz, said the reporter, who witnessed both hand-overs.
Haji Zahir Kharoti, who negotiated on Seoul’s behalf for the hostages’ release, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa that the three women were well and were handed over to him in the south-eastern province of Ghazni.
The three women were transported today by the Red Cross to Ghazni, about 80 miles (130 kilometers) south of the Afghan capital, Kabul, ICRC spokeswoman Anna Schaaf said. They were to be turned over to government officials from Seoul, she said.
In Seoul, South Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman Cho Hee-yong said the three, who he identified as Ahn Hye-jin, Lee Jung-ran and Han Ji-young, did not appear to have any health problems.
The South Korean government said it had agreed to withdraw its 200 soldiers in Afghanistan - which had already been decided before the kidnappings - by year’s end. It said it had also promised to send no more “Christian missionairies” into the country.
The Taliban apparently backed down on earlier demands for a prisoner exchange.
The Taliban originally kidnapped 23 hostages as they traveled by bus from Kabul to the former Taliban stronghold of Kandahar on July 19. In late July, the militants executed two male hostages, and they released two women earlier this month.
The insurgents have said they will free all the hostages, who they are holding in different locations, over the next few days.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, a former South Korean foreign minister, welcomed the news of a deal and called for all the hostages to be freed quickly.
He said he used “all possible efforts” as secretary-general to help obtain the release of the hostages, talking to leaders in Afghanistan and the region who might have influence.
“I welcome that news that both the Korean government and Taliban representatives have agreed to release the remaining 19 hostages,” he said.
Public reaction in South Korea was mixed throughout the crisis as some media commentators and bloggers blamed the Christian group for needlessly endangering their own lives by travelling to the war-torn country on an evangelical mission.