Koreas agree to limited family reunions
About 100 on each side expected for gathering
SEOUL, South Korea — North and South Korea agreed Friday to hold temporary reunions of families divided by the 1950-53 Korean War as they boost reconciliation efforts amid a diplomatic push to resolve thenorthkoreannuclearcrisis.
The reunions will take place at North Korea’s Diamond Mountain resort from Aug. 20 to 26, Seoul’s Unification Ministry said after a nine-hour meeting between Red Cross officials from the two sides.
It said the countries will each send 100 participants to the reunions. People with mobility problems will be allowed to bring a relative to help them.
Such temporary reunions are highly emotional as most wishing to take part are elderly people who are eager to see their loved ones before they die. The families were driven apart during the turmoil of the war.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in agreed during a summit in April to hold the family reunions about Aug. 15, the anniversary of the Korean Peninsula’s independence from Japanese colonial rule at the end of World War II in 1945.
Friday’s talks between Red Cross officials at the Diamond Mountain resort were to arrange details of the reunions.
Kimandmoonmetagaininmay. Their two summits have opened various channels of peace talks between the countries. The rivals recently agreed to restore cross-border military hotline communication channels and field joint teams in some events at the upcoming Asian Games in Indonesia.
“If we sternly separate ourselves from the unfortunate past and acquireastrongmindsetforthenew times, humanitarian cooperation between the North and South will flourish,” North Korea delegate Pak Yong Il said at the start of the meeting.parkkyung-seo,presidentof South Korea’s Red Cross, expressed hope for talks that could “resolve the grief of our nation.”
The Koreas last held family reunions in 2015 before relations worsened because of North Korea’s accelerated pursuit of nuclear longrange missiles and the hard-line response of Seoul’s then-conservative government.
Since the end of the Korean War, both Koreas have banned ordinary citizens from visiting relatives on the other side of the border or contacting them without permission. Nearly 20,000 Koreans have participated in 20 rounds of face-to-face temporary reunions held between the countries since 2000.
Aside from setting up a new round ofreunions,southkoreanofficials also proposed a survey to confirm survivingmembersofwar-separated families in North Korea and the possibility of hometown visits, but couldn’t reach an agreement with Northkoreanofficials,parktold reporters after the meeting.