ID :
77209
Thu, 08/27/2009 - 11:31
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/77209
The shortlink copeid
Two Koreas hold family reunion talks for second day
By Tony Chang
MOUNT KUMGANG, North Korea, Aug. 27 (Yonhap) -- Officials from the two Koreas met here for the second day Thursday to continue talks on arranging reunions forfamilies separated by a war over half a century ago.
The talks began at 10:50 a.m., some 50 minutes later than scheduled due to a
power failure at the meeting venue.
"I believe we can return home with good results," a member of the South Korean
delegation told pool reporters ahead of the second-day meeting, adding he is
aware of high expectations for an agreement.
The Red Cross talks, the first in 21 months, follow 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 Korean War.
The reunions were last held in October 2007 and 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.
At Wednesday's meeting, the South Korean delegation proposed holding two separate
rounds, on 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 built last year for the
reunions at Mount Kumgang, but Pyongyang insisted on the Mount Kumgang Hotel,
where this week's talks are being held.
In opening remarks Wednesday, South Korea's chief negotiator, Kim Young-chel, set
out three points of discussions -- that the reunions continue in any given
political climate and to hold more reunions in November and around the Lunar New
Year holiday next year.
Kim, who led the delegation as secretary general of South Korea's Red Cross, also
pressed the issue of South Korean prisoners of war and civilian abductees,
demanding that they 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," Kim told
reporters Wednesday.
The North Korean delegation is led by Choe Song-ik, vice chairman of the central
committee of the North's Red Cross Society.
odissy@yna.co.kr
(END)
MOUNT KUMGANG, North Korea, Aug. 27 (Yonhap) -- Officials from the two Koreas met here for the second day Thursday to continue talks on arranging reunions forfamilies separated by a war over half a century ago.
The talks began at 10:50 a.m., some 50 minutes later than scheduled due to a
power failure at the meeting venue.
"I believe we can return home with good results," a member of the South Korean
delegation told pool reporters ahead of the second-day meeting, adding he is
aware of high expectations for an agreement.
The Red Cross talks, the first in 21 months, follow 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 Korean War.
The reunions were last held in October 2007 and 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.
At Wednesday's meeting, the South Korean delegation proposed holding two separate
rounds, on 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 built last year for the
reunions at Mount Kumgang, but Pyongyang insisted on the Mount Kumgang Hotel,
where this week's talks are being held.
In opening remarks Wednesday, South Korea's chief negotiator, Kim Young-chel, set
out three points of discussions -- that the reunions continue in any given
political climate and to hold more reunions in November and around the Lunar New
Year holiday next year.
Kim, who led the delegation as secretary general of South Korea's Red Cross, also
pressed the issue of South Korean prisoners of war and civilian abductees,
demanding that they 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," Kim told
reporters Wednesday.
The North Korean delegation is led by Choe Song-ik, vice chairman of the central
committee of the North's Red Cross Society.
odissy@yna.co.kr
(END)
