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| Lee Duck-hang, left, South Korean chief delegate to the working-level Red Cross talks for the inter-Korean family reunion program, shake hands with his North Korean counterpart, Pak Yong-il, after holding talks at the truce village of Panmunjom, Wednesday. / Yonhap |
By Chung Min-uck
The two Koreas agreed Wednesday to hold family reunions on Feb. 20-25 at Mt. Geumgang, a scenic resort in North Korea.
The schedule for the reunions of families separated by the Korean War (1950-53) — which will be the first since October 2010 — was finalized after the South accepted a proposal by the North at a meeting in the truce village of Panmunjeom.
The timing is likely to coincide with the start of joint ROK-U.S. war games, triggering speculation that the North may use the meetings as a way to promote its claim that the two allies are preparing for an invasion.
Around 100 individuals from South Korea will participate in the family reunions and will stay at the North's Mt. Geumgang Hotel during their six-day visit, as Seoul requested, the Ministry of Unification said.
Officials here will be dispatched to the North on Friday for inspection purposes, added the ministry.
"The two sides have also decided to discuss — after the family reunions — other humanitarian issues, including the returning of South Koreans who were kidnapped by the North," the ministry said.
Experts say the family reunions are expected to serve as a cornerstone in improving the current conflict-ridden South-North relations.
North Korea's chief delegate to the working-level Red Cross talks, Pak Yong-il, said that the latest gathering "is a very important starting point in improving North-South relations," according to the ministry.
In response, South Korean chief delegate, Lee Duck-hang, called for "more mutual efforts to build trust between the South and North."
Setting dates for the reunions was one of the major sticking points in negotiations.
Seoul earlier proposed launching the reunions Feb. 17, but Pyongyang rejected the idea. It instead called for a cancellation of Seoul's annual joint military exercises with Washington, dubbed Foal Eagle and Key Resolve.
But the allies refused to do so, saying that their exercises were defensive in nature.
The joint drills kick off later this month and are likely to overlap with the upcoming reunions.
Family reunions are an urgent issue because most of the separated Koreans are in their 70s and 80s.
The two Koreas have held 18 reunions since 2000, but they were halted in 2010 after relations soured in the wake of North Korea's deadly attack on a South Korean warship and an island.
Last year, the sides agreed to hold family reunions at Mt. Geumgang, but Pyongyang abruptly called them off at the last minute.
Over 20,000 separated family members here have met their relatives, but there are around 70,000 South Koreans registered to participate in the program.
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