Afghanistan’s Taliban movement has extended the deadline for 23 Korean hostages to allow the South Korean government to establish direct talks with the group, a Taliban spokesman said on Monday.

Spokesman Qari Mohammad Yousuf said talks with the Afghan government were going nowhere. The deadline was extended to 14:30 GMT Tuesday, he said.

Meanwhile a Taliban spokesman said that the hostages were in good health, but any use of force to rescue them would put their lives at risk.

“They are in good health and fine, but we would like to repeat that any use of force will claim the lives of the hostages and the Taliban then would not be responsible,” said Taliban spokesman Qari Mohammad Yousuf.

The 23 belong to the “Saemmul Church” in Bundang, a city outside South Korea's capital, Seoul. Most of them are in their 20s and 30s, and include nurses and English teachers.

While tribal elders tried to mediate between the militants and government negotiators, Afghan forces have surrounded the group of some 70 kidnappers in the Qarabagh area of Ghazni province, south of the capital Kabul.

The Afghan government was hopeful of a peaceful outcome.

“We are working on it. We are hopeful that we will have good achievements and good results from what we are doing,” said Afghan Interior Ministry spokesman Zemarai Bashari.

“We have assigned a working group in Ghazni to work on the issue,” he said, declining to give further details.

A delegation of South Korean diplomats were also aiding the negotiations, a Korean embassy official said.