Two Koreas to hold reunions of war-torn families for 7 days starting Aug. 20
Arirang News
2018-06-23
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Delegations from the the respective Red Cross organizations of two Koreas met north of the border on Friday... to arrange reunions of war-separated families.
The talks went well.. with the two sides setting the dates for the reunion events.
Oh Jung-hee has the details.
For the first time since October 2015,... war-torn families of the two Koreas are finally set to meet.
This after an agreement was reached by Seoul and Pyongyang at Red Cross Talks on Friday.
The reunions will take place for a week starting from August 20th at North Korea's Mount Kumgang... and involve 100 family members each from South and North Korea.
However, a lot of work remains to be done to make the reunions happen.
The two Koreas first need to confirm which family members are still alive on their respective sides of the border... and then exchange the final list of participants -- on August 4th.
Seoul will also to dispatch inspection and other advance teams to Mount Kumgang for renovations and prep work.
It's a concrete action plan adopted by the two Koreas just two months after the inter-Korean summit in late April -- where the leaders of Seoul and Pyongyang agreed to hold the reunion events around Korea's National Liberation Day, August 15th.
The delegations at the Red Cross Talks expressed their strong will to continue working together to ease the agony of war-separated families.
"Let's have regular discussions and continue cooperating to fundamentally resolve the issue of war-torn families -- like confirming which family members are alive... and enabling visits to hometowns as well as to the graves of ancestors."
"Red Cross organizations in the North and the South should be aware of their responsibilities... and trust each other to break from the past and write new history for the Korean people and inter-Korean relations."
But the joint statement doesn't include other humanitarian issues between the two Koreas -- namely, the release of South Korean detainees in the North.
It appears the officials did touch upon those issues, but weren't able to reach an agreement to include them in the statement.
"As for other humanitarian issues that weren't covered in Friday's joint press statement, the two Koreas agreed to hold additional Red Cross Talks and working-level meetings to continue their discussions.
Oh Jung-hee, Arirang News."
The talks went well.. with the two sides setting the dates for the reunion events.
Oh Jung-hee has the details.
For the first time since October 2015,... war-torn families of the two Koreas are finally set to meet.
This after an agreement was reached by Seoul and Pyongyang at Red Cross Talks on Friday.
The reunions will take place for a week starting from August 20th at North Korea's Mount Kumgang... and involve 100 family members each from South and North Korea.
However, a lot of work remains to be done to make the reunions happen.
The two Koreas first need to confirm which family members are still alive on their respective sides of the border... and then exchange the final list of participants -- on August 4th.
Seoul will also to dispatch inspection and other advance teams to Mount Kumgang for renovations and prep work.
It's a concrete action plan adopted by the two Koreas just two months after the inter-Korean summit in late April -- where the leaders of Seoul and Pyongyang agreed to hold the reunion events around Korea's National Liberation Day, August 15th.
The delegations at the Red Cross Talks expressed their strong will to continue working together to ease the agony of war-separated families.
"Let's have regular discussions and continue cooperating to fundamentally resolve the issue of war-torn families -- like confirming which family members are alive... and enabling visits to hometowns as well as to the graves of ancestors."
"Red Cross organizations in the North and the South should be aware of their responsibilities... and trust each other to break from the past and write new history for the Korean people and inter-Korean relations."
But the joint statement doesn't include other humanitarian issues between the two Koreas -- namely, the release of South Korean detainees in the North.
It appears the officials did touch upon those issues, but weren't able to reach an agreement to include them in the statement.
"As for other humanitarian issues that weren't covered in Friday's joint press statement, the two Koreas agreed to hold additional Red Cross Talks and working-level meetings to continue their discussions.
Oh Jung-hee, Arirang News."
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