By Kim Sue-young
Staff Reporter
Red Cross officials of South and North Korea will begin a three-day meeting today near Mt. Geumgang in the North to discuss the resumption of separated family reunions.
``North Korea sent a message that it agreed to hold inter-Korean Red Cross talks from Aug. 26 to 28 as proposed by the Southern organization," Unification Ministry spokesman Chun Hae-sung said Wednesday.
North Korea reopened the Red Cross phone and fax link after a nine-month suspension to protest the South's participation in a U.N. resolution criticizing its human rights conditions, a ministry official said.
Spokesman Chun said, ``The talks are aimed at discussing the reunion of displaced families. But I think several other inter-Korean issues could be discussed."
Last Monday, North Korea's Asia-Pacific Peace Committee in charge of inter-Korean projects and Hyundai Group, an operator of inter-Korean projects, agreed to hold separated family reunions around Chuseok, Korean Thanksgiving Day, which falls on Oct. 3.
The accord came after Hyundai Group Chairwoman Hyun Jung-eun's meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-il during her visit to North Korea from Aug. 10 to 17.
The reunion of families separated by the 1950-53 Korean War has been suspended since late 2007.
South Korea will send two officials, including NRC Secretary-General Kim Young-chul, to the talks, while Choe Song-ik, vice chairman of the North's Red Cross Society, will represent North Korea.
The Southern Red Cross here has already begun screening to pick 100 qualified people out of 87,586 applicants based on their health conditions and the status of their separated families in the North.
The last round of reunions gave North Koreans an opportunity to find their flesh and blood in the South, so this time, South Koreans will have the chance, according to the NRC.
The October reunion is expected to take place at a reunion center near Mt. Geumgang. The facility was established last year but has not had a chance to hold an event due to the chilled inter-Korean relations.
The North unilaterally unplugged the direct phone line in retaliation for the South's decision to support a U.N. resolution criticizing alleged human rights violations in North Korea.
The phone line was temporarily revived when a North Korean delegation visited Seoul last Friday to pay respects to the late former President Kim Dae-jung, who held the first inter-Korean summit with North Korean leader Kim in 2000. After they returned home Sunday, the North did not respond to the South's calls.
The six delegates also had talks with President Lee Myung-bak, following meetings with South Korean politicians and senior officials such as National Assembly Speaker Kim Hyong-o and Unification Minister Hyun In-taek.
The two Koreas technically remain at war, with the Korean War ending in a ceasefire, not a peace treaty.