SEOUL, South Korea - President Roh Moo-hyun called Tuesday for South Korea to remain calm as it anxiously awaits the outcome of efforts to free 23 hostages in Afghanistan.

A woman, a family member of one of the kidnapped South Koreans in Afghanistan, cries as she waits for television news about them in Seoul at around 1300 GMT July 23, 2007. [Reuters]

"It's not a time to be hastily optimistic nor to be prematurely pessimistic about the outcome," Roh told a Cabinet meeting. "It's important to resolve this in a calm and cool-headed attitude. ... The most important goal at this time is to get them back safely."

Roh praised officials for their response, but cautioned that "there is no basis that we can be sure of a good outcome just because the initial response was good."

Seoul is "maintaining contact" with the hostage-takers and mobilizing "effective means" to resolve the standoff, a Foreign Ministry official said without elaborating.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity citing protocol, said the hostages are still believed safe.

The Taliban has demanded the release of 23 Taliban prisoners to secure the release of the South Koreans.

Purported Taliban spokesman, Qari Yousef Ahmadi, said Monday the hard-line militia had extended its deadline for their release to Tuesday night after the Afghan government refused to comply.

The militants have pushed back their ultimatum on the Koreans' fate at least three times. Afghan officials in Ghazni province have met the militants in person and are also negotiating over the phone, but little progress appears to have been made so far.

The South Koreans were kidnapped on Thursday while riding on a bus through Ghazni province on the Kabul to Kandahar highway, Afghanistan's main thoroughfare.

The 23 South Koreans, including 18 women, were working at an aid organization in Kandahar, said Sidney Serena, a political affairs officer at the South Korean Embassy in Kabul.