Breaking North Korea agrees to Sept. 7 Red Cross talks

[Breaking] North Korea has agreed to take part in working-level talks on Sept. 7 at the truce village of Panmunjeom to discuss the reunion of families separated by the 1950-1953 Korean War.

North Korea accepted South Korea’s proposal for Red Cross talks on Saturday through a message received at the liaison office in Panmunjeom.

The Korean Red Cross President Kim Sung-joo made the offer Friday to Kang Su-rin, chairman of the central committee of the Red Cross Society of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. The Korean Red Cross has customarily served as a major channel on issues over inter-Korean family reunions.

“We will continue to discuss a range of related issues through the dialogue channel at Panmunjeom,” the Unification Ministry said.

The two Koreas earlier this week agreed to hold Red Cross working-level talks to organize the reunion for Chuseok holiday, which falls on Sept. 27. But experts forecast that the reunions may well take place in October because of lack of time to prepare.

Kim Kwan-jin, director of the South Korea’s National Security Office, and Unification Minister Hong Yong-pyo, met with North Korea’s Hwang Pyong-so, director of the general political department of the Korean People's Army, and Kim Yang-gon, director of the United Front Department in charge of cross-border affairs, for more than 40 hours of marathon talks from Aug. 22-25 to defuse the tension between the two nations.

Friction on the Korean Peninsula became dangerously explosive following the Aug. 4 landmine blast in the Demilitarized Zone and last week's exchange of artillery fire between the two Koreas.