(2nd LD) Two Koreas to hold first family reunion talks in 2 yrs

(ATTN: UPDATES with ministry briefing on fishermen held in N.K., CORRECTS spelling
of chief delegate's name)
By Kim Hyun
SEOUL, Aug. 26 (Yonhap) -- A South Korean delegation headed to North Korea on
Wednesday for talks to arrange a new round of reunions of separated families
after a nearly two-year hiatus, a sign of thawing cross-border relations.

The reunion talks, channeled by Red Cross offices on both sides, had been stopped
as Pyongyang rejected inter-Korean dialogue. The North's agreement to the
three-day talks was the latest in a series of recent conciliatory gestures toward
the South.
"Many people are looking forward to reunions with their families north of the
border," Kim Young-chel, chief delegate and secretary general of the South Korean
Red Cross office, told reporters before departing from Seoul. "We will try to
have as many people as possible included in the reunions."
Seoul's three-member delegation traveled to Goseong, South Korea's border town on
the east coast, where they will cross the demilitarized zone through an
inter-Korean land route there to arrive at the North's transit office at around
3:30 p.m., officials said. The talks are expected to start at 5 p.m. at the
North's Mount Kumgang resort, a customary venue for the reunions.
The dialogue, the first in 21 months, follows an 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 suspended reunions of families separated by the
1950-53 war. The accord suggests holding the reunions on the traditional Korean
holiday of Chuseok, which falls on Oct. 3 this year.
In another major fence-mending move, North Korea dispatched a high-level
delegation to pay respects to late former South Korean President Kim Dae-jung
last week.
North Korean media have since stopped describing South Korean President Lee
Myung-bak with such derogatory terms as "traitor.
Arranged by the Red Cross, the reunions started in August 2000 as an outcome of
the historic first inter-Korean summit earlier that year. They were last held in
October 2007 and did not continue after political relations chilled with the
inauguration last year of President Lee Myung-bak, who linked inter-Korean
relations to progress in Pyongyang's denuclearization.
The two Koreas have held 16 rounds of face-to-face reunions and seven rounds of
video reunions so far, temporarily bringing together tens of thousands of
separated family members. About 600,000 South Koreans are believed to have
relatives in North Korea. Normally, about 100 South Koreans are selected for
each reunion.
Officials expect no major problems in setting the date and number of
participating families, but a major roadblock could be the issue of Korean War
prisoners and other South Koreans believed to have been held by the North during
the Cold War era. South Korea has pushed to include those missing citizens in
family reunions, while North Korea has opposed the idea.
"Those are humanitarian issues. We will continue to express our opinion," the
chief delegate said.
Watchers also expect that during the talks, North Korea may demand the resumption
of the suspended tourism project to Mount Kumgang, a source of cash for the
country currently under U.N. sanctions. Seoul suspended the tour in July last
year after a North Korean soldier shot and killed a South Korean tourist who
strayed into an off-limits military zone.
Seoul has not yet moved to resume the tour.
Separately, South Korea called for the early release of four fishermen who have
been held in the North after their boat strayed into North Korean waters in the
East Sea on July 30.
Seoul pressed for an update on the crew through the recently restored
inter-Korean hotline at the truce village of Panmunjom, and a North Korean
official responded positively, Unification Ministry spokesman Chun Hae-sung said.
hkim@yna.co.kr
(END)