LEAD) Koreas-Red Cross talks

(LEAD) Seoul's Red Cross proposes talks with North on family reunions
(ATTN: UPDATES with more details from para 3)
By Tony Chang
SEOUL, Oct. 12 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's Red Cross on Monday proposed talks to
its Northern counterpart on resuming cross-border family reunions and other
humanitarian projects.

The Seoul side delivered the proposal -- forwarded to Jang Jae-on, chief of the
North's Red Cross -- to hold talks Friday at the Mount Kumgang resort in the
North, Chun Hae-sung, spokesperson at the Unification Ministry, said at a press
briefing.
Seoul hopes to continue reunion events for families separated by the 1950-53
Korean War, following the latest one last month, the first in nearly two years.
The North did not promise to regularize the family reunions at the Red Cross
contact in August.
"The area which we have proposed is of the family reunion events, and it would be
inappropriate to speculate on other areas that could be explored," Chun said,
when asked on what other humanitarian projects could be discussed with the North.
"We consider the family reunions as our number one priority," the spokesman added.
The Koreas agreed to hold family reunions at their historic first summit in 2000.
More than 127,000 people in the South have since signed up for the reunions, but
nearly a third of them have died due to old age. The competition is roughly 1 to
800 in being selected for the reunions.
About 16,000 people have been reunited through face-to-face reunions so far. Some
600,000 in the South are believed to have family in the North.
South Koreans by law cannot exchange phone calls, letters or e-mail across the
border without government approval.
odissy@yna.co.kr
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