In July 2007, the Taliban took 23 South Korean missionaries hostage in Afghanistan and killed two of them.
The other 21, however, were freed by the end of that August following direct negotiations between the rebels and the Afghan government, with the International Committee of the Red Cross also playing a role in their release.
The ICRC is a global humanitarian organization founded in 1863 to provide assistance to victims of war and armed conflict. It has offices in 80 countries and a total of 12,000 employees worldwide, including in such conflict-ridden areas as Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Iraq and Sudan.