ID :
75856
Tue, 08/18/2009 - 14:35
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://www.oananews.org//node/75856
The shortlink copeid
(LEAD) Seoul may propose talks to N. Korea this week on family reunions
(ATTN: UPDATES with spokesperson's response in paras 8-9)
SEOUL, Aug. 18 (Yonhap) -- Seoul is considering proposing talks to Pyongyang this
week to follow up on a pledge by Pyongyang to resume inter-Korean family reunions
in October, according to an informed source Tuesday.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-il and South's Hyundai Group Chairwoman Hyun
Jeong-eun on Sunday agreed on a series of steps which, if officially endorsed by
Seoul, will resuscitate stalled tourism projects and restart the reunion of
families separated by the 1950-1953 Korean War. The Hyundai Group is the main
North Korean counterpart in cross-border business ventures.
Kim suggested arranging the reunions on Chuseok day on Oct. 3, which is Korea's
version of Thanksgiving.
The source, requesting to be unnamed, said Seoul may make the proposal as early
as Wednesday either through military or maritime channels, as North has
unilaterally cut off communications between the Koreas' Red Cross offices which
in the past organized the reunions.
Seoul has not yet decided on the date for the suggested talks, the source said.
Chun Hae-sung, Seoul's Unification Ministry's spokesman, said Monday the
agreement between Hyundai and North Korea as "positive" but that dialogue between
the governments should precede implementation.
He added, however, that the government's top priority is resuming the family
reunions and it will try to set up inter-Korean Red Cross talks.
Lee Jong-joo, also a spokesperson at the ministry, said nothing regarding the
talks has been set yet, but that the relevant offices at the ministry were
working closely to see it happens in the near future.
"The time frame for preparation is rather tight, given the days left until
Chuseok, but we believe that the event can be carried out smoothly through close
consultations and our accumulated experience from the past," Lee said at a press
briefing.
The family reunions, set up after the first inter-Korean summit in 2000, have
been suspended after mail exchanges in February last year.
The North has since cut off government-level talks to protest against South
Korean President Lee Myung-bak, who adopted a tougher stance on Pyongyang's
nuclear program and ended South Korea's free flow of aid to the communist state.
The Koreas have held 16 rounds of face-to-face family reunions since the first
summit between their leaders in June 2000.
Some 16,000 Koreans have been able to meet their family and kin, while close to
3,750 others, mostly too old and weak to travel, have been reunited through
real-time video links under a program launched in August 2005.
More than 90,000 South Koreans are on a waiting list for their turn.
odissy@yna.co.kr
(END)
SEOUL, Aug. 18 (Yonhap) -- Seoul is considering proposing talks to Pyongyang this
week to follow up on a pledge by Pyongyang to resume inter-Korean family reunions
in October, according to an informed source Tuesday.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-il and South's Hyundai Group Chairwoman Hyun
Jeong-eun on Sunday agreed on a series of steps which, if officially endorsed by
Seoul, will resuscitate stalled tourism projects and restart the reunion of
families separated by the 1950-1953 Korean War. The Hyundai Group is the main
North Korean counterpart in cross-border business ventures.
Kim suggested arranging the reunions on Chuseok day on Oct. 3, which is Korea's
version of Thanksgiving.
The source, requesting to be unnamed, said Seoul may make the proposal as early
as Wednesday either through military or maritime channels, as North has
unilaterally cut off communications between the Koreas' Red Cross offices which
in the past organized the reunions.
Seoul has not yet decided on the date for the suggested talks, the source said.
Chun Hae-sung, Seoul's Unification Ministry's spokesman, said Monday the
agreement between Hyundai and North Korea as "positive" but that dialogue between
the governments should precede implementation.
He added, however, that the government's top priority is resuming the family
reunions and it will try to set up inter-Korean Red Cross talks.
Lee Jong-joo, also a spokesperson at the ministry, said nothing regarding the
talks has been set yet, but that the relevant offices at the ministry were
working closely to see it happens in the near future.
"The time frame for preparation is rather tight, given the days left until
Chuseok, but we believe that the event can be carried out smoothly through close
consultations and our accumulated experience from the past," Lee said at a press
briefing.
The family reunions, set up after the first inter-Korean summit in 2000, have
been suspended after mail exchanges in February last year.
The North has since cut off government-level talks to protest against South
Korean President Lee Myung-bak, who adopted a tougher stance on Pyongyang's
nuclear program and ended South Korea's free flow of aid to the communist state.
The Koreas have held 16 rounds of face-to-face family reunions since the first
summit between their leaders in June 2000.
Some 16,000 Koreans have been able to meet their family and kin, while close to
3,750 others, mostly too old and weak to travel, have been reunited through
real-time video links under a program launched in August 2005.
More than 90,000 South Koreans are on a waiting list for their turn.
odissy@yna.co.kr
(END)
