Koreas fail to agree on more reunions

Koreas fail to agree on more reunions

The inter-Korean Red Cross talks ended yesterday as the two sides failed to reach an agreement on Seoul's proposal to hold more cross-border reunion events for separated families.

"We suggested holding family reunions in Seoul and Pyongyang in November, and again on Lunar New Year's Day (in February) at the Mount Geumgang resort, and repeatedly stressed the importance of making them a regular event," said a Unification Ministry official on condition of anonymity.

"The North did not deny the need for more family reunions but did not show any positive response either."

As expected earlier, North Korea renewed its request for humanitarian aid from the South.

"The North requested humanitarian aid, without mentioning the specific items or amount, and the South's delegation said they would review it in Seoul," the official said.

"The two sides did not get to decide when to meet for follow-up talks."

The South also suggested discussing measures to resolve the issue of South Korean prisoners of war and civilians including fishermen held in the North, to which the North did not respond.

Two South Korean Red Cross officials Kim Eui-do and Kim Sung-keun sat for the working-level talks with their North Korean counterparts in Gaeseong, just north of the border.

The meeting was constantly adjourned and resumed throughout the day until 6:30 p.m. as the two sides struggled to bridge the gap.

The talks started at 10 a.m. and were adjourned 40 minutes later, resumed at 3 p.m. only to last for another 40 minutes.

Two more shorter meetings took place at 5 p.m. and 6:30 p.m.

Despite the North's request for rice aid on the sidelines of the previous round of family reunions late last month, Seoul has said that it had no plans to send large amounts of aid like it had under former administrations.

The government has told South Korean media, however, that it could provide aid in much smaller amounts.

The South had shipped around 300,000 tons of fertilizer to the North tacitly in exchange for allowing its people to temporary meetings with their kin across the border under former presidents Kim Dae-jung and Roh Moo-hyun.

North Korea agreed to the working-level meeting a day after the South proposed it on Monday and in the mean time test-fired short-range missiles and warned of a naval clash in the Yellow Sea. The so-called "two-track" diplomacy came as the North, currently under U.N. sanctions over its nuclear and missile tests in April, was pushing the South to resume profitable tourism projects and humanitarian aid to the country.

(sophie@heraldm.com)

By Kim So-hyun

2009.10.17