ID :
76346
Fri, 08/21/2009 - 11:01
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/76346
The shortlink copeid
(2nd LD) Seoul proposes inter-Korean Red Cross talks on family reunions
(ATTN: UPDATES throughout with proposal delivered, N.K. lifting border restrictions)
By Kim Hyun
SEOUL, Aug. 20 (Yonhap) -- South Korea proposed to North Korea Thursday that the
two sides meet to arrange reunions of separated families, following up on
Pyongyang's recent pledge to restart the suspended humanitarian contact,
officials said.
North Korea agreed earlier this week that it will reopen the border for a series
of conciliatory measures, including the resumption of reunions of families
separated by the 1950-53 Korean War, which were suspended by Pyongyang last year.
The accord suggested the Korean holiday of Chuseok, which falls on the first week
of October, as the reunion date.
South Korea "proposed the inter-Korean Red Cross talks from Aug. 26-28 at Mount
Kumgang" to set up the reunion, the Red Cross said in a statement.
The North's scenic mountain on the east coast has a reunion house built by the
Seoul government.
The message was sent through a military communications channel, Unification
Ministry officials said, as the inter-Korean Red Cross contact line at the truce
village of Panmunjom remains severed. Pyongyang cut off the dialogue channel in
November as one of its retaliatory measures against the conservative Lee
Myung-bak government.
The two Koreas set up family reunions through their Red Cross offices, an
arrangement that began after the first historic inter-Korean summit in 2000.
Nearly 20,000 people have been reunited through 16 rounds of face-to-face
reunions and seven rounds of video meetings. Face-to-face reunions have not been
held since Red Cross talks were suspended in November 2007.
In a rare conciliatory move on Sunday, North Korean leader Kim Jong-il and Hyun
Jeong-eun, chairwoman of South Korea's Hyundai Group, agreed on a series of steps
to revive inter-Korean exchanges that also includes resuscitating Hyundai's
tourism ventures at North Korea's Mt. Kumgang and the historic town of Kaesong.
North Korea said Thursday it is lifting the cross-border traffic restrictions it
has imposed since December.
hkim@yna.co.kr
(END)
By Kim Hyun
SEOUL, Aug. 20 (Yonhap) -- South Korea proposed to North Korea Thursday that the
two sides meet to arrange reunions of separated families, following up on
Pyongyang's recent pledge to restart the suspended humanitarian contact,
officials said.
North Korea agreed earlier this week that it will reopen the border for a series
of conciliatory measures, including the resumption of reunions of families
separated by the 1950-53 Korean War, which were suspended by Pyongyang last year.
The accord suggested the Korean holiday of Chuseok, which falls on the first week
of October, as the reunion date.
South Korea "proposed the inter-Korean Red Cross talks from Aug. 26-28 at Mount
Kumgang" to set up the reunion, the Red Cross said in a statement.
The North's scenic mountain on the east coast has a reunion house built by the
Seoul government.
The message was sent through a military communications channel, Unification
Ministry officials said, as the inter-Korean Red Cross contact line at the truce
village of Panmunjom remains severed. Pyongyang cut off the dialogue channel in
November as one of its retaliatory measures against the conservative Lee
Myung-bak government.
The two Koreas set up family reunions through their Red Cross offices, an
arrangement that began after the first historic inter-Korean summit in 2000.
Nearly 20,000 people have been reunited through 16 rounds of face-to-face
reunions and seven rounds of video meetings. Face-to-face reunions have not been
held since Red Cross talks were suspended in November 2007.
In a rare conciliatory move on Sunday, North Korean leader Kim Jong-il and Hyun
Jeong-eun, chairwoman of South Korea's Hyundai Group, agreed on a series of steps
to revive inter-Korean exchanges that also includes resuscitating Hyundai's
tourism ventures at North Korea's Mt. Kumgang and the historic town of Kaesong.
North Korea said Thursday it is lifting the cross-border traffic restrictions it
has imposed since December.
hkim@yna.co.kr
(END)
