American Red Cross seeks to link Koreans in U.S., N. Korea

SEOUL, Oct. 31 (Yonhap) -- The American Red Cross is working to arrange the
reunions of Korean families living in the U.S. and North Korea, according to a
news report.
Abi Weaver, a spokesperson at the agency, told the Radio Free Asia that it asked
the Red Cross societies of the two Koreas to cooperate on the initiative,
encouraged by the recent resumption of the reunion of South and North Korean
relatives who have lived on the different side of the border due to the 1950-53
Korean War.
More than two million Koreans reside in the U.S. and 100,000-500,000 of them are
estimated to have families in North Korea.
Weaver added the South Korean Red Cross promised to help confirm the fate of
families in North Korea by use of its database.
With the North's response unconfirmed, it remains unclear whether ethnic Koreans
in the U.S. will be able to meet their kin in the communist nation, which tightly
controls its border.
The South's Red Cross also took a cautious stance.
"In August, the American Red Cross asked us whether Koreans in the U.S. can be
included in inter-Korean family reunions. But it is difficult to do so due to
nationality problem," a Red Cross official said.
It is a matter to be discussed between the American Red Cross and its North
Korean counterpart, he added.
In a related move, a U.S. congressional body sent a letter to the American Red
Cross calling for it to double its efforts for such reunions.
Mark Kirk (R-Illinois) and Jim Matheson (D-Utah) co-chair the Congressional
Commission on Divided Families, an official government mechanism set up in 2007
to facilitate the reunions between Koreans in the U.S. and North Korea.
(END)