SEONGNAM, South Korea (AP) _ South Koreans who were held hostage for weeks in Afghanistan mourned Saturday at the funeral of a church pastor, one of two people in their group shot to death by their Taliban captors.

The former hostages wept, prayed and sang hymns along with hundreds of black-clad mourners during the funeral service for pastor Bae Hyung-kyu at their Presbyterian Saemmul Community Church in Seongnam, just south of Seoul.

Video footage of Bae was shown during the service, prompting sobs and wails from mourners.

“The fact that we can no longer be with him in this life is unbearable, but what keeps us going is the belief that we’ll reunite with him in heaven,” the pastor’s brother, Bae Shin-kyu, said on behalf of the family, before breaking down in tears.

“I hope the blood of my brother and Sung-min wasn’t shed for nothing,” he said, referring to the other victim, Shim Sung-min. “I hope their deaths weren’t in vain.”

Bae, 42, was found dead with multiple gunshot wounds on July 25, six days after he and 22 other aid workers from the South Korean church were kidnapped from a bus on their way to the southern Afghan city of Kandahar.

He was the first of two killed in the six-week standoff. Shim, 29, was slain July 31.

Bae’s body was flown home on July 30, but the family delayed his funeral until the other hostages were freed, in a show of solidarity with the victims’ relatives and to appeal for their safe release.

The two deaths came as negotiations with the captors stalled over a Taliban demand that insurgent fighters be freed.

The Taliban released two of the other hostages in mid-August as a goodwill gesture after beginning direct talks with the South Korean government. All 19 others were freed later last month and returned home on Sept. 2.

The ex-hostages have since received treatment at a hospital.

All 21 former hostages were present at the funeral, sobbing as they sat in the front rows facing the closed casket and picture of a smiling Bae.

A sign under the picture, framed with white chrysanthemums, read: “One who bet his life on caring for the youth with God’s love.”

“I miss him,” said Yoo Soo-kyung, a student in pastor Bae’s youth group. “I just want to see him again and talk to him. I want to tell him that we love him. He did so much for us.”

Bae was a deputy pastor of the church.

His body was donated for research.