By Kim Sue-young
Staff Reporter
North Korea is apparently making a peace offensive toward South Korea after months of hostility that had sparked fears of the possibility of military clashes.
Pyongyang announced Thursday the lifting of cross-border traffic restrictions imposed on South Koreans since last December to protest the Lee Myung-bak administration's tougher position on the Stalinist country.
The two Koreas also reopened a direct contact channel at the truce village of Panmunjeom for a North Korean delegation's trip to Seoul to pay respects to the late former President Kim Dae-jung. The secretive state also sent diplomats to the United States Wednesday after earlier freeing two American female reporters it had detained.
In return, South Korea proposed inter-Korean Red Cross talks at Mt. Geumgang in North Korea from Aug. 26 to 28 to discuss arrangements for displaced family reunions, an official at the National Red Cross (NRC) said.
In a reconciliatory message sent to the South, the North said it will lift restrictions on the border crossings starting today, a Seoul official said on condition of anonymity.
Under the measures, South Korean workers were restricted in the number of times they could travel to the Gaeseong Industrial Complex in the North.
If Pyongyang accepts Seoul's proposal for inter-Korean Red Cross talks, separated family reunions will take place in October as agreed to between the North Korean Asia-Pacific Peace Committee (APPC) and South Korea's Hyundai Group, Monday.
Last week, North Korean leader Kim Jong-il agreed to allow the resumption of stalled inter-Korean projects, including tours to Mt. Geumgang, in a meeting with Hyundai Group Chairwoman Hyun Jung-eun. Prior to the meeting, Pyongyang set free a detained Hyundai worker.
The sudden U-turn from hostile action following its second nuclear test in May, is being made after the U.N. Security Council imposed tougher sanctions on North Korea.
The NRC will prepare for the 17th round of reunions in consultation with the government, the official said, asking to remain anonymous.
It also began to screen qualified candidates to pick 100 out of 87,586 applicants based on their health and the status of their family members.
The proposal came after Hyundai and the APPC released a five-point agreement to resume suspended tour programs and lift restrictions on border-crossings last week.
The two sides agreed "to promote the reunions on Chuseok" (Korea's Thanksgiving Day) which falls on Oct. 3.
Hopes are high for the meeting of families separated by the Korean War (1950-53). "The government will do its utmost to help people see their family members in North Korea," Ministry of Unification spokesman Chun Hae-sung said.
Chung noted that the reunion was a humanitarian issue regardless of the political situation on the Korean Peninsula.
The reunions, suspended after the Lee administration was inaugurated in early 2008 with a tougher stance on Pyongyang, are expected to take place at a center near Mt. Geumgang constructed last year.