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Koreas to resume family reunions | Koreas to resume family reunions |
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North and South Korea have agreed to resume family reunions that were called off by the North two years ago, the two sides have announced in a statement. | North and South Korea have agreed to resume family reunions that were called off by the North two years ago, the two sides have announced in a statement. |
The reunions, begun in 2000, were shelved amid worsening relations, but talks on the issue resumed this week. | The reunions, begun in 2000, were shelved amid worsening relations, but talks on the issue resumed this week. |
Several hundred families split by the 1950-53 Korean War will be able to meet for several days from late September, the joint North-South statement said. | Several hundred families split by the 1950-53 Korean War will be able to meet for several days from late September, the joint North-South statement said. |
The agreement is the latest sign of tensions easing between the Koreas. | The agreement is the latest sign of tensions easing between the Koreas. |
Red Cross officials from both countries reached agreement after three days of talks at the Mount Kumgang resort in North Korea - where the family reunions are to be held from 26 September to 1 October. | Red Cross officials from both countries reached agreement after three days of talks at the Mount Kumgang resort in North Korea - where the family reunions are to be held from 26 September to 1 October. |
Tens of thousands of families were separated by the war and the number who will be briefly reunited is a tiny fraction of those on the waiting list, says the BBC's John Sudworth in Seoul. For the rest, time is running out, our correspondent adds. | Tens of thousands of families were separated by the war and the number who will be briefly reunited is a tiny fraction of those on the waiting list, says the BBC's John Sudworth in Seoul. For the rest, time is running out, our correspondent adds. |
The North and South are still technically at war, as a peace treaty was never concluded at the end of the war. | The North and South are still technically at war, as a peace treaty was never concluded at the end of the war. |
There are still no exchanges by post, telephone or e-mail between people living across the heavily fortified border. | There are still no exchanges by post, telephone or e-mail between people living across the heavily fortified border. |
UN sanctions | |
In the early part of the decade, the two countries regularly held Red Cross talks to discuss family reunions and other humanitarian issues. About 16,000 families were briefly reunited. | |
However the reunions were stopped after South Korean President Lee Myung-bak took office in February 2008, amid North Korean anger at his policy of ending unconditional aid handouts. | |
He has tied a resumption of aid to progress on North Korean nuclear disarmament. | |
Family reunions were regularly held earlier in the decade | |
Earlier this year, relations between North Korea and the rest of the world were extremely strained. It was heavily criticised in May for conducting its second nuclear test and a series of ballistic missile launches and the UN Security Council agreed to tighten sanctions against North Korea. | |
But the agreement to hold the Red Cross talks is just one of a series of conciliatory gestures by North Korea in recent weeks. | |
Last week, Northern officials attended the funeral of South Korea's former President Kim Dae-jung. | |
Former US President Bill Clinton also visited the North recently, and secured the release of two American journalists detained there. | |
North Korea also announced this month that it would ease restrictions on cross-border traffic imposed last year amid the rising tension. | |
Some analysts have said the moves may be an attempt by Pyongyang to gain increased aid or foreign currency as sanctions begin to bite the isolated country. |