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Tuesday, February 4, 2014

Koreas agree to hold family reunions this month

By AP
February 5, 2014, 2:20 pm TWN

SEOUL, South Korea — South Korea says it and North Korea have agreed to hold the first reunions of war-divided families in more than three years later this month.

The planned Feb. 20-25 reunions coincide with the expected start of South Korea-U.S. annual springtime military drills that North Korea calls a rehearsal for a northward invasion. The allies call the training defensive.

North Korea scrapped previously scheduled reunions at the last minute in September after accusing South Korea of preparing war drills and other hostile acts.

Seoul’s Unification Ministry says the latest agreement was reached during a border meeting between Red Cross delegates from the Koreas on Wednesday. It gave no further details.

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	In this photo released by South Korean Unification Ministry, head of South Korean working-level delegation Lee Duk-haeng, center right, shakes hands with his North Korean counterpart Park Yong Il, center left, during their meeting at Tongilgak in the North Korean side of Panmunjom which has separated the two Koreas since the Korean War, Wednesday, Feb. 5. (AP) Enlarge Photo

China Post Online – Taiwan , News , Taiwan newspaper

Koreas agree to hold family reunions this month

Sunday, February 2, 2014

NKorea Agrees to Hold Talks on Family Reunions

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Asia Pacific|NKorea Agrees to Hold Talks on Family Reunions

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SEOUL, South Korea â€” South Korea said Monday that North Korea had agreed to hold talks on arranging reunions of families separated by the 1950-53 Korean War for the first time in more than three years.

North Korea last month agreed to restart the reunions and asked South Korea to pick the date. Seoul subsequently chose Feb. 17-22 and proposed working-level talks to discuss details about the reunions. But Pyongyang hadn’t responded for a week, drawing complaints from Seoul officials.

Breaking its weeklong silence, North Korea on Monday sent a message proposing the talks take place either on Wednesday or Thursday at a border village and let South Korea choose the date, according to Seoul’s Unification Ministry and Pyongyang’s state media.

South Korea replied it preferred Wednesday, according to the Unification Ministry. Spokesman Kim Eui-do said Seoul officials will try to arrange the reunion as soon as possible.

The reunion program is one of several cross-border cooperation projects that have been stalled in recent years amid tension between the divided Koreas. The program is highly emotional as most applicants are in their 70s or older and want to have the possibility to see their long-lost relatives before they die.

Pyongyang has recently toned down its typical rhetoric against Seoul and made a series of conciliatory gestures. Last spring, the country dramatically raised tensions by issuing repeated threats to launch nuclear wars.

Analysts say the impoverished North needs improved ties with South Korea as that will help the country attract foreign investment and aid.