All of the five, four men and one woman, were released unharmed and they were meeting with embassy officials, Tamaulipas state attorney general Jose Herrera said in an interview with a local radio.

Five South Koreans kidnapped in northeast Mexico were set free Tuesday afternoon after being held for over a week, officials said.

The abductions happened on July 14 when they were driving in Reynosa, across the border from McAllen, Texas in the United States by an alleged human trafficking group, Herrera said.

Their captors had phoned the South Korean diplomatic mission in Mexico, demanding 30,000 U.S. dollars in ransom from their families, said the state attorney general.

Police tracked several phone calls before finding the hostages in a hotel in Reynosa, he said.

Perry was named in connection with an investigation into steroid abuse in 2007. Although Perry's publicist declined to comment it is noted that Perry has battled asthma all his life and uses steroids as a means of treatment.

Tyler was born Emmitt R. Perry, Jr. in New Orleans, one of four children. Perry changed his first name to Tyler because of his troubled relationship with his father. His father, Emmitt, Sr., was a carpenter and construction worker, and his mother, Maxine, was a pre-school teacher and worked at the New Orleans Jewish Community Center for most of her life. His childhood in New Orleans was marked by poverty and physical abuse from his father.Perry dropped out of school when he was 16, but later went back to school to obtain his GED. Perry is a Christian. Perry has repeatedly been caught up in rumors as to the nature of being gay, but he continues to deny it by saying "If you can't separate the character from the man I am that's your problem."