Civilian delegates discuss S-N Liberation Day events
By Yi Whan-woo
Civic delegations from the two Koreas will meet in Gaeseong, Thursday, to discuss preparations for a possible joint celebration of the 70th anniversary of Korea’s liberation from Japanese colonial rule, the government said Wednesday.
The Ministry of Unification said it allowed to representatives from a coalition of Seoul’s religious and civic groups to travel to the North Korean border city. It did not give any further details.
The Seoul-Pyongyang commemoration for Korea’s liberation on Aug. 15 will take place for the first time since 2005 if delegates reach an agreement, Thursday, and carry out their plan as scheduled. The previous celebration took place in the South Korean capital.
It remains to be seen whether the two sides can strike a deal over the location and programs for the joint festival.
South Korea is pushing to run anniversary events in both Seoul and Pyongyang simultaneously and have delegates from the two countries join each other’s celebration.
“Each Korea should host this year’s celebration and that’s what we’ve been thinking,” an official from Seoul’s preparatory group for a joint anniversary said on condition of anonymity.
He pointed out that that North Korea is preparing its own plans.
“It’s possible that Pyongyang will unilaterally host the festival and sends us an invitation. We’ll see how it goes,” he added.
According to sources familiar with North Korea, the communist country plans to celebrate Liberation Day, one of a few national holidays observed in both Koreas, on a massive scale.
A source said the Kim Jong-un regime will run a series of programs from Aug. 13 to 15 across the country, including at Mount Baekdu and Pyongyang.
The truce village of Panmunjom, which lies on the demilitarized zone, is also on North Korea’s list of candidate sites to mark the celebration.
The civilian delegates will meet as part of their efforts to help their governments mend the frayed ties of recent years.
In May, the same group of civilian representatives tentatively agreed in Shenyang, China, to jointly mark the June 2000 Seoul-Pyongyang summit but this eventually failed.
Back then, the isolationist regime accused the Park Geun-hye administration of peddling influence on civilian affairs.