South Korea negotiates with Nigeria kidnappers

SEOUL, Jan 12 (Reuters) South Korean officials have met gunmen who kidnapped South Korean workers in Nigeria's oil-producing Niger Delta and have confirmed the hostages are unharmed, officials in Seoul said today.

The gunmen, armed with dynamite, invaded Daewoo Engineering and Construction's riverside oil services base on the outskirts of the southern Bayelsa state capital Yenagoa on Wednesday, kidnapping nine South Koreans and one Nigerian.

Those negotiating the Daewoo employees' release handed over food and clothing to the hostages, officials in Seoul said.

Neither they nor Daewoo would disclose the identity of the gunmen to protect the hostage's safety and not unduly boost the kidnappers' negotiating strength. They also declined to say what demands had been made.

''One meeting has taken place with the kidnappers,'' one official said by telephone on condition of anonymity, adding a second meeting was planned after daybreak in Nigeria.

Daewoo is working on a pipeline project in the delta, which accounts for all oil production from OPEC member Nigeria, the world's eighth biggest exporter of crude.

A fifth of Nigerian output capacity is shut down because of militant attacks and the security situation in the volatile area is worsening. Wednesday's attack came less than a week after five Chinese telecom workers were kidnapped for ransom in another area of the delta.

Hostages are usually kept for a few days in remote settlements and then released unharmed after their employers or local authorities pay money.

But one Nigerian and a Briton were killed last year in separate botched attempts to free them, and employees of Italian oil firm Agip have been held hostage since December 7 by the rebel Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND).

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