The Taliban has killed one of 23 Korean hostages after negotiations for their release broke down, according to a Taliban spokesman.
James Bays, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Afghanistan, said that he was told by a spokesman that "a male hostage had been killed and his body was left next to the main Kabul-Kandahar highway."
Al Jazeera could not independently verify the spokesman's information.
Melissa Chan, reporting for Al Jazeera from South Korea on Tuesday, said that the media in South Korea was reporting that eight hostages had been moved to safety when it was announced that the hostage had been killed.
The Taliban had threatened to kill the hostages unless Afghan authorities agreed to demands to release prisoners in exchange.
Three previous deadlines for the hostages' lives had previously passed without consequences.
The South Koreans were a group of Christian evangelicals who had been involved in missionary and aid work in Afghanistan.
They were kidnapped last Thursday while travelling by bus through Ghazni province.