S. Korea to seek release of nationals in talks with North: official

SEOUL, Feb. 14 (Yonhap) -- South Korea will press for the release of its
nationals believed to be held in North Korea when the divided states hold
reconciliation talks this year, a senior official said Sunday.
Hundreds of South Korean prisoners of war remain in North Korea, according to the
defense ministry in Seoul, even though Pyongyang denies holding any from the
1950-53 Korean War.
North Korea, which remains technically at war with the South, has also abducted
over 480 South Koreans, mostly fishermen, since the three-year war ended in a
truce, Seoul's Unification Ministry says.
"This issue will be treated as an important topic along with the North Korean
nuclear issue if South and North Korea start dialogue," Vice Unification Minister
Hong Yang-ho said. "We have made preparations with the determination to make a
breakthrough in these issues this year."
North Korea continues to develop nuclear arms despite a series of agreements that
promised to provide aid for the impoverished country if it denuclearizes through
multinational talks.
Hong made his comments while visiting an observation post overlooking the
inter-Korean border and gave a speech to a group of South Koreans whose family
members remain in the communist North.
Senior ministry officials hold the event each year during the Lunar New Year's
holiday to provide consolation for families separated by the war.
The two Koreas have held a series of meetings this year amid a thaw in their
relations, but they have been limited to discussions on their joint factory park
in the North and the possible resumption of cross-border tours that were
suspended in 2008.
Seoul says the improvement of relations hinges on Pyongyang's willingness to
concretely discuss its nuclear arms programs and humanitarian issues involving
South Koreans with Seoul.
(END)