Koreas - family reunifications

Korean family reunification programme to resume

Article published on the 2009-08-28 Latest update 2009-08-28 07:04 TU

North Korean Red Cross delegate Choe Song-Ik (R) meets his South Korean counterpart Kim Young-Chel in Mt. Kumgang, North Korea, 26 August 2009
(Photo: Reuters)

North and South Korea have agreed to restart a programme to allow families divided during the 1950s war to see each other at the end of September. The agreement, announced in a joint statement released after three days of negotiations by Red Cross officials from both sides, is the latest sign that tensions between the two countries are easing.

"The South and the North will continue to cooperate on the issue of separated families and other humanitarian issues involving the Red Cross," said the statement, which announced that family reunions will take place between 26 September and 1 October, right before the Korean Thanksgiving holiday of Chuseok.

Each side has agreed to select 100 people from their country and locate their relatives across the border for the brief meeting.

Some tens of thousands of family members have been separated since the war, many of them elderly today.

According to the South Korean Yonhap news agency, South Korea had withdrawn a demand that the joint statement include reference to South Korean prisoners of war and civilians believed kidnapped by the North after the war.

"I believe our position has been sufficiently explained to the North through these talks," said South Korean Unification Ministry spokesperson Chun Hae-Sung said in Seoul.

"Here, we will focus on the most pressing issue of arranging the Chuseok reunion, but our efforts will continue with patience."