Friday, October 1, 2010

Two Koreas resume talks on family reunions

SEOUL — Two Koreas launched fresh talks on restarting a reunion programme for families separated by war 60 years ago amid lingering tension over the sinking of a South Korean warship, officials said.



The meeting began at the North\'s southernmost city of Kaesong after the South\'s delegation crossed the heavily fortified border, the unification ministry said.



\"We will try to reach an agreement on the venue (for reunions) and other details, including the number of families to be reunited,\" South Korea\'s chief delegate Kim Eui-Do told journalists before he left for Kaesong.



The third round of talks opened even after North Korea threatened to open fire at South Korean sites where anti-Pyongyang activists float propaganda leaflets across the border.



The North\'s delegation chief on Thursday made the threat at the first military talks with the South for two years, which ended without progress after Seoul demanded an apology from Pyongyang for the March warship sinking.



Pyongyang in recent months has also threatened to open artillery fire at loudspeakers installed south of the border to broadcast anti-regime messages.



The loudspeakers, which are not yet switched on, have been installed as part of the South\'s reprisals for what it says was a North Korean torpedo attack on a corvette that killed 46 sailors. The North angrily denies responsiblity.



Any resumption of the family reunions after a year-long break could help ease months of high tensions sparked by the March sinking.



Tens of thousands of Koreans on both sides of the heavily fortified border have not seen family members since the 1950-53 war. There are no civilian mail or phone services and many do not even know whether relatives are alive or dead.



Only about 20,800 family members have joined the reunions -- one fifth of these via video link -- since the programme began in earnest in 2000. The face-to-face reunions typically last three days.



About 80,000 elderly people in the South alone are desperate for a chance to see loved ones but officials say up to 4,000 of them die each year before getting the chance.



But previous talks on restarting the programme got bogged down after Pyongyang pressed Seoul to lift its ban on cross-border commercial tours to the jointly-run Mount Kumgang resort in the North.



The South accuses the North of trying to politicise a humanitarian programme by linking it to the resumption of the tours, a source of hard currency for the deeply impoverished communist state.



Pyongyang\'s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said last week that the South \"took an insincere attitude\" at the last round of talks.



South Korean Unification Minister Hyun In-Taek on Monday urged the North to stop seeking political concessions by taking advantage of the \"humanitarian\" programme.



The South\'s unification ministry said it would handle the issues of family reunions and cross-border tours separately.



The South banned its people from visiting the resort after a North Korean soldier shot dead a visiting Seoul housewife in 2008.



South Korea maintains it will not consider resuming the tours at least until the North allows an on-site investigation into the shooting. It also wants firm safety guarantees.



The North has seized or sealed off the South\'s buildings at Kumgang -- including a purpose-built family reunion centre -- in protest at the delay.


News From: http://www.7StarNews.com

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