S.Korea positively considering DPRK's proposal for new family reunion
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South Korea is positively considering the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK)'s proposal for holding a new reunion event for separated families, a unification ministry official said Saturday.
The remark came after the DPRK Red Cross chief Jang Jae On sent a message to his South Korean counterpart Ryu Jong-ha, in which he made the proposal and suggested that the two organizations hold a working contact to facilitate the reunion as early as possible.
The official confirmed to the local media that Seoul received the message from Jang Jae On, chairman of the Central Committee of the DPRK Red Cross Society, on Friday.
The Seoul's National Red Cross is positively considering the DPRK's proposal and will work out measures after discussions with the government, the official, speaking on condition of anonymity, was quoted by Seoul's leading broadcaster YTN as saying.
But he noted that the government so far has yet made a decision about the DPRK's proposal, adding that once it accepts the proposal, the two sides will nail down the detailed date and scale of the event through the Red Cross channel.
The official also said the event, if agreed, will likely be held at DPRK's Mt. Kumgang resort.
According to DPRK's official KCNA news agency, Jang proposed in his message to hold the new round of reunion event at the DPRK's Mt. Kumgang resort on the coming harvest moon day, Chuseok, which falls on Sept. 22.
The reunion program of families separated by the 1950-53 Korean War began in 2000 after a historic inter-Korean summit between the two sides.
The last reunions, or the first since South Korean President Lee Myung-bak took office, were held during the period from Sept. 26 to Oct. 1 last year, shortly before the Chuseok Day. The two sides failed in the following month to agree on a new round of reunions.
However, the inter-Korean ties have further soured since the beginning of this year, and the DPRK in April freezed several facilities owned by South Korean Tourism Organization at Mt. Kumgang, including the facilities for the reunions of separate families.
About 600,000 South Koreans are believed to have relatives in the DPRK. Ordinary citizens were not allowed to make phone calls, send letters or exchange e-mails across the border.
