Two Koreas agree to hold reunions for war-separated families
North and South Korea agreed Friday to resume reunions for families separated by the Korean War in August – the first such meetings since 2015 and the latest step in a remarkable diplomatic thaw on the peninsula.
Millions of people were separated during the 1950-53 conflict that sealed the division of the two Koreas.
Most died without the chance to see or hear from their relatives on the other side of the border, across which all civilian communication is banned.
The resumption of the reunions was among the agreements reached between North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and the South’s President Moon Jae-in at their landmark summit in April.
Officials from both sides met at the North’s scenic Mount Kumgang resort on Friday and set a date for late August.
“The reunion will be held from August 20 to 26 and 100 participants will be selected from each side,” said a joint Seoul-Pyongyang statement released by the South’s unification ministry.
The regional mood has turned towards diplomacy since the Winter Olympic Games in South Korea earlier this year, which set off a series of diplomatic moves culminating in a historic meeting between US President Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un in Singapore on June 12.
On Thursday, Trump said that North Korea has already begun its denuclearization, after many observers greeted with skepticism the results of his historic meeting with Kim.
“They’ve already blown up one of their big test sites. In fact, it was actually four of their big test sites. And the big thing is, it will be a total denuclearization, which is already starting,” Trump said at a cabinet meeting.
A top Japanese government spokesperson said Friday that Japan is suspending evacuation drills simulating a North Korean missile attack after the Kim-Trump meeting.