ID :
77181
Thu, 08/27/2009 - 10:53
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/77181
The shortlink copeid
Koreas set for second day of family reunion talks
By Tony Chang
MOUNT KUMGANG, North Korea, Aug. 27 (Yonhap) -- Officials from the two Koreas were scheduled to meet in the North for the second day Thursday to continue talks on family reunions.
A South Korean delegation headed by Kim Young-chel, secretary general of South
Korea's Red Cross, arrived at the North's Mount Kumgang resort Wednesday for a
three-day visit to hammer out a schedule for the family reunions, scheduled to
take place around the traditional Korean holiday of Chuseok that falls on the
first week of October this year.
The North Korean delegation is led by Choe Song-ik, vice-chairman of the central
committee of the North's Red Cross Society.
Family reunions were last held in October 2007, but stopped after political
relations chilled with the inauguration of President Lee Myung-bak last year, who
linked inter-Korean relations to progress in Pyongyang's denuclearization.
The dialogue, the first in 21 months, follows a recent agreement North Korean
leader Kim Jong-il reached with Hyun Jeong-eun, chief of South Korea's Hyundai
Group, to boost joint ventures and resume reunions of families separated by the
1950-53 war. The accord suggested holding the reunions on Chuseok.
At Wednesday's meeting, the South Korean delegation proposed holding two separate
reunions Sept. 27-29 and Oct. 6-8, while the North proposed holding them Oct. 3-5
and Oct. 6-8.
For the venue, Seoul proposed a 12-story building it completed for that purpose
at Mount Kumgang last year, but Pyongyang insisted on the Mount Kumgang Hotel,
where the talks are now held.
In his opening remarks, South Korea's chief negotiator also demanded the reunions
continue in any given political climate and also suggested holding follow-up
reunions in November and the Lunar New Year holiday next year.
The delegation also raised the issue of South Korean prisoners of war and
civilian abductees, demanding that South Koreans captured by the North during the
Korean War and other occasions also be included in the reunions.
"As a principle of cooperation, we proposed that both sides should work together
to resolve the issues of the people who went missing after the war," the chief
South Korean delegate told pool reporters on Wednesday after the talks.
The two sides were scheduled to hold their first round of full-fledged talks
later in the day.
MOUNT KUMGANG, North Korea, Aug. 27 (Yonhap) -- Officials from the two Koreas were scheduled to meet in the North for the second day Thursday to continue talks on family reunions.
A South Korean delegation headed by Kim Young-chel, secretary general of South
Korea's Red Cross, arrived at the North's Mount Kumgang resort Wednesday for a
three-day visit to hammer out a schedule for the family reunions, scheduled to
take place around the traditional Korean holiday of Chuseok that falls on the
first week of October this year.
The North Korean delegation is led by Choe Song-ik, vice-chairman of the central
committee of the North's Red Cross Society.
Family reunions were last held in October 2007, but stopped after political
relations chilled with the inauguration of President Lee Myung-bak last year, who
linked inter-Korean relations to progress in Pyongyang's denuclearization.
The dialogue, the first in 21 months, follows a recent agreement North Korean
leader Kim Jong-il reached with Hyun Jeong-eun, chief of South Korea's Hyundai
Group, to boost joint ventures and resume reunions of families separated by the
1950-53 war. The accord suggested holding the reunions on Chuseok.
At Wednesday's meeting, the South Korean delegation proposed holding two separate
reunions Sept. 27-29 and Oct. 6-8, while the North proposed holding them Oct. 3-5
and Oct. 6-8.
For the venue, Seoul proposed a 12-story building it completed for that purpose
at Mount Kumgang last year, but Pyongyang insisted on the Mount Kumgang Hotel,
where the talks are now held.
In his opening remarks, South Korea's chief negotiator also demanded the reunions
continue in any given political climate and also suggested holding follow-up
reunions in November and the Lunar New Year holiday next year.
The delegation also raised the issue of South Korean prisoners of war and
civilian abductees, demanding that South Koreans captured by the North during the
Korean War and other occasions also be included in the reunions.
"As a principle of cooperation, we proposed that both sides should work together
to resolve the issues of the people who went missing after the war," the chief
South Korean delegate told pool reporters on Wednesday after the talks.
The two sides were scheduled to hold their first round of full-fledged talks
later in the day.
