North and South Korea to resume family reunions

NORTH and South Korea yesterday agreed to arrange the first reunions in three years of some of the families separated by the Korean War.

Red Cross organisations will arrange meetings for 200 selected people. The reunions, planned for August 20-26, are an emotive issue, especially for elderly relatives who have been forced to live apart for decades.

Families have occasionally been reunited in the past, during periods of improved relations between the two states.

The development comes after promises by Kim Jong-un, the North Korean leader, and Moon Jae-in, president of South Korea, following a dramatic improvement in relations at a time when there were real fears of war over North Korea’s nuclear and missile programmes. Pak Yong Il, the leader of the North Korean delegation at the talks, said: “The whole world is marvelling at the amazing developments between the North and South.”

Tensions on the Korean peninsula eased after the recent summit between Kim and Donald Trump, the US president, in Singapore in which they agreed that they would work towards denuclearisation.

The reunions will be held at Mount Kumgang, North Korea, a few miles across the border.

South Korean officials have often called for the visits to resume as a “humanitarian and human rights issue”, especially as many separated family members are now in their 80s and 90s.

The first reunions were held in 1985. About 20 have been held since then, the last in 2015.