Seoul proposes Red Cross meeting with NK on family reunions

South Korea on Tuesday proposed holding a Red Cross meeting with North Korea to discuss reinstating reunions of family members separated for nearly six decades.

South Korea's Red Cross chief Yu Jung-keun made the offer in a message to her North Korean counterpart earlier Tuesday through their channel at the border village of Panmunjom, according to the South Korean government.

The offer comes despite lingering tensions on the Korean Peninsula over the North's two deadly attacks on the South in 2010.

The North has recently urged South Korea to offer an apology over its response to the December death of former leader Kim Jong-il as a key condition for resuming stalled bilateral talks.

South Korea expressed sympathy to the people of North Korea over Kim's death, but did not send an official mourning delegation to Pyongyang. Seoul did approve condolence trips by private delegations.

South Korea has expressed regret over what it sees is the North's latest propaganda campaign.

Millions of Koreans have been separated from their family members since the 1950-53 Korean War ended in a cease-fire, not a peace treaty, leaving the two sides still technically at war.

The neighboring countries have usually staged reunions around Chuseok, the Korean Thanksgiving holiday that is celebrated in both countries, and other important national holidays.

The divided Koreas have held more than a dozen rounds of reunions since a landmark summit in 2000, bringing together more than 21,700 family members who had not seen each other since the war.

South Korea wants to resume regular reunions but none have taken place since October 2010.

There are no direct means of contact between ordinary civilians of the two countries that remain divided by a heavily fortified border. (Yonhap)

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