The Taliban have handed four South Korean hostages to Afghan tribal elders and will hand over the remaining three later, a rebel negotiator said.

“We have handed four people — two males and two females — to tribal elders,” Qari Mohammad Bashir said. A tribal leader involved in negotiations to free the hostages said “three of four” had been handed over to other elders and would be delivered to the International Committee of the Red Cross.

Meanwhile, an official said on Thursday that the  South Korea’s government may seek compensation for expenses incurred in trying to win the release of the hostages seized in Afghanistan after ignoring official warnings not to go there.

The Foreign Ministry has already asked a local church, which sent the 23 volunteer workers to Afghanistan, to repay airfare and medical fees spent on transporting and treating two released hostages and also airlifting the bodies of two killed hostages back to South Korea, said a Church official. Reports said the government was conducting a legal review over the issue.