S Korea wants more family reunions

S Korea wants more family reunions

Seoul - South Korea said on Thursday it would press North Korea at upcoming talks to hold more reunions of families separated for decades by barbed wire and minefields.

Red Cross officials from the two Koreas will on Friday hold one-day talks in the town of Kaesong, just north of the border, to discuss the issue.

"When it comes to the family reunions, the government has said many times that it will make utmost efforts to arrange a next round of family reunions at an early date," said unification ministry spokeswoman Lee Jong-Joo.

"We will engage in the talks from such a standpoint."

As part of recent peace overtures to the South, the communist North last month resumed the reunion programme after a lapse of two years.

Hundreds of people held tearful meetings at the North's Mount Kumgang resort for the first time since the 1950-1953 war.

The programme began in earnest after the first cross-border summit in 2000 eased tensions between the historical enemies.

More than 16,000 Koreans from both sides have held face-to-face meetings since then, while 3,200 others have communicated through video links.

But tens of thousands are still waiting for a chance to meet long-lost loved ones, and many die of old age before they get the opportunity.

Seoul wants family reunions to be held on a regular, not a one-off, basis.

Friday's talks will be watched to see whether the North is seeking food aid in return for reunions. Seoul's Red Cross chief Yoo Chong-Ha has said such a request was implicitly made during the previous programme from September 26-October 1.

South Korea's position is that the two issues should not be linked. - Sapa-AFP

Published on the Web by IOL on 2009-10-15 06:46:42

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