S. Korea to propose regular family reunion to DPRK
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South Korea will make proposal to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) for holding regular reunion events for separate families, a government official said Sunday.
The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Yonhap News Agency the Seoul government is expected to give a reply early next week to the DPRK's proposal for holding new round of family reunion this month and staging a working contact to facilitate the reunion as early as possible.
The government has decided to make an offer to hold regular family reunions to the DPRK during the possible contact, as South Korean President Lee Myung-bak has repeatedly stressed to seek a fundamental solution to the separate families issue, the official said.
The regular reunion mechanism should be set up based on principles of humanitarianism, and "it has nothing to do with political issues," the official added.
According to DPRK's official Korean Central News Agency, the DPRK's Red Cross chief Jang Jae On sent a message to his South Korean counterpart Ryu Jong-ha Friday, in which he propose 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.
Seoul is positively considering Pyongyang's proposal, a unification ministry official said Saturday.
But no reunion events are likely to take place before the Chuseok Day, as such events usually take at least a month to prepare, according to local media.
The reunion of families separated by the 1950-53 Korean War began in 2000 after a historic inter-Korean summit.
The last reunions, or the first since President Lee Myung-bak took office, were held from Sept. 26 to Oct. 1 last year, shortly before the Chuseok Day, during which Seoul suggested that the two sides set up a regular reunion mechanism. But the proposal did not receive positive response from the DPRK.
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.
