ID :
76877
Tue, 08/25/2009 - 17:21
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://www.oananews.org//node/76877
The shortlink copeid
Two Koreas to hold family reunion talks for first time in 2 years
(ATTN: MODIFIES headline, lead, UPDATES with ministry briefing, COMBINES with
earlier story on restored hotline)
By Kim Hyun
SEOUL, Aug. 25 (Yonhap) -- South and North Korea will hold talks this week to set
up a new round of reunions for separated families, Seoul officials said Tuesday,
the first such dialogue in nearly two years.
In another sign of thawing relations, North Korea normalized a direct
inter-Korean communications link that it suspended for months to protest Seoul's
hardline stance.
"We will discuss procedures with the North so that the talks can start tomorrow
as planned," Unification Ministry spokesman Chun Hae-sung said in a press
briefing.
In a last minute response, North Korea accepted South Korea's proposal for
three-day Red Cross talks starting Wednesday. Through the Red Cross hotline at
the truce village of Panmunjom, the North said it will send a three-member
delegation to the talks to be held at the North's Mount Kumgang resort on the
east coast. The talks are expected to set the number of participating families
and determine procedures for locating relatives on the other side of the border.
Seoul made the proposal last week, following up on North Korean leader Kim
Jong-il's agreement to resume reunions of families separated by the 1950-53
Korean War and hold the first new round on the traditional Korean holiday of
Chuseok that falls on Oct. 3.
Arranged by the Red Cross, the reunions started at the end of 2000 as an outcome
of the historic first inter-Korean summit between late former South Korean
President Kim Dae-jung and the North Korean leader earlier that year.
The reunions were last held in October 2007 and did not continue after political
relations chilled with the inauguration of President Lee Myung-bak, who linked
inter-Korean relations to progress in Pyongyang's denuclearization.
The Koreas have so far held 16 rounds of face-to-face reunions and seven rounds
of video reunions, temporarily reuniting about 23,600 South Koreans and 12,500
North Koreans.
About 600,000 South Koreans are believed to have relatives north of the border.
In another positive sign, North Korea appears to have permanently normalized the
Red Cross hotline, ministry officials said. Pyongyang said last it was restoring
the hotline to communicate with a North Korean delegation that visited Seoul to
pay condolences to the late Kim, but Seoul had not been sure if the connection
was permanent. North Korea did not respond to calls from Seoul on Monday after
the delegation returned home.
"The North's side told us it has begun normal operations. We view this as the
normalization of communications between the Red Cross offices,"
The Red Cross channel, a key hotline between the two governments, was shut down
in November as Pyongyang protested Seoul's participation in a U.N. resolution
criticizing its human rights conditions.
The Koreas are technically at war as the Korean War ended in a cease-fire,
without a formal peace treaty.
hkim@yna.co.kr
(END)
earlier story on restored hotline)
By Kim Hyun
SEOUL, Aug. 25 (Yonhap) -- South and North Korea will hold talks this week to set
up a new round of reunions for separated families, Seoul officials said Tuesday,
the first such dialogue in nearly two years.
In another sign of thawing relations, North Korea normalized a direct
inter-Korean communications link that it suspended for months to protest Seoul's
hardline stance.
"We will discuss procedures with the North so that the talks can start tomorrow
as planned," Unification Ministry spokesman Chun Hae-sung said in a press
briefing.
In a last minute response, North Korea accepted South Korea's proposal for
three-day Red Cross talks starting Wednesday. Through the Red Cross hotline at
the truce village of Panmunjom, the North said it will send a three-member
delegation to the talks to be held at the North's Mount Kumgang resort on the
east coast. The talks are expected to set the number of participating families
and determine procedures for locating relatives on the other side of the border.
Seoul made the proposal last week, following up on North Korean leader Kim
Jong-il's agreement to resume reunions of families separated by the 1950-53
Korean War and hold the first new round on the traditional Korean holiday of
Chuseok that falls on Oct. 3.
Arranged by the Red Cross, the reunions started at the end of 2000 as an outcome
of the historic first inter-Korean summit between late former South Korean
President Kim Dae-jung and the North Korean leader earlier that year.
The reunions were last held in October 2007 and did not continue after political
relations chilled with the inauguration of President Lee Myung-bak, who linked
inter-Korean relations to progress in Pyongyang's denuclearization.
The Koreas have so far held 16 rounds of face-to-face reunions and seven rounds
of video reunions, temporarily reuniting about 23,600 South Koreans and 12,500
North Koreans.
About 600,000 South Koreans are believed to have relatives north of the border.
In another positive sign, North Korea appears to have permanently normalized the
Red Cross hotline, ministry officials said. Pyongyang said last it was restoring
the hotline to communicate with a North Korean delegation that visited Seoul to
pay condolences to the late Kim, but Seoul had not been sure if the connection
was permanent. North Korea did not respond to calls from Seoul on Monday after
the delegation returned home.
"The North's side told us it has begun normal operations. We view this as the
normalization of communications between the Red Cross offices,"
The Red Cross channel, a key hotline between the two governments, was shut down
in November as Pyongyang protested Seoul's participation in a U.N. resolution
criticizing its human rights conditions.
The Koreas are technically at war as the Korean War ended in a cease-fire,
without a formal peace treaty.
hkim@yna.co.kr
(END)
