Two Koreas to hold reunions of war-torn families for 7 days starting Aug. 20
- 6 years ago
남북 이산가족 상봉 8월 20일부터 7일간 진행... 최종명단 8월 4일에 교환
Delegations from the the respective Red Cross organizations of two Koreas met once again today.
Top of the agenda was arranging reunions of separated families... and we are hearing that the dates of the family reunions have been finally determined.
Let's connect to our Unification Ministry correspondent, Oh Jung-hee,... who's following developments from Seoul's Office for Inter-Korean Dialogue.
Jung-hee, fill us in.
Daniel, it was a long day for the delegations of Seoul and Pyongyang.
Today's Red Cross Talks ended just less than an hour ago.
While the general session ended in only 45 minutes this morning, the delegations of the two Koreas had to go through three rounds of two-plus-two meetings to iron out and fine-tune the details of the joint press statement.
So here we have the final agreement.
The two Koreas are to hold the reunions of families separated by the Korean War... for seven days starting from August 20th at North Korea's Mount Kumgang.
There will be 100 participants each from South and North Korea.
The two Koreas will keep communicating to confirm whose family members remain alive or not,... and exchange the final list of reunion participants on August 4th.
An advance team will be dispatched from South Korea to North Korea's Mount Kumgang from five days before the reunions for prep work.
And the two Koreas will work to renovate the meeting rooms at Mount Kumgang -- for which the South will send inspection teams starting next Wednesday.
It's a concrete action plan adopted by the two Koreas two months after the inter-Korean summit talks in April -- there, the leaders of Seoul and Pyongyang agreed to hold the family reunions at around National Liberation Day, August 15th.
This will be the first family reunion in three years -- since October 2015.
Seoul and Pyongyang are to hold hold additional Red Cross talks and working-level meetings to continue discussions on humanitarian issues including the family reunions.
But Daniel, it seems the two Koreas weren't able to touch upon... or narrow down gaps in views on other humanitarian issues -- namely, the release of South Korean detainees in the North or Seoul providing humanitarian assistance to Pyongyang through UN agencies.
Today's joint press statement stipulates plans about the family reunions only.
Daniel.
Delegations from the the respective Red Cross organizations of two Koreas met once again today.
Top of the agenda was arranging reunions of separated families... and we are hearing that the dates of the family reunions have been finally determined.
Let's connect to our Unification Ministry correspondent, Oh Jung-hee,... who's following developments from Seoul's Office for Inter-Korean Dialogue.
Jung-hee, fill us in.
Daniel, it was a long day for the delegations of Seoul and Pyongyang.
Today's Red Cross Talks ended just less than an hour ago.
While the general session ended in only 45 minutes this morning, the delegations of the two Koreas had to go through three rounds of two-plus-two meetings to iron out and fine-tune the details of the joint press statement.
So here we have the final agreement.
The two Koreas are to hold the reunions of families separated by the Korean War... for seven days starting from August 20th at North Korea's Mount Kumgang.
There will be 100 participants each from South and North Korea.
The two Koreas will keep communicating to confirm whose family members remain alive or not,... and exchange the final list of reunion participants on August 4th.
An advance team will be dispatched from South Korea to North Korea's Mount Kumgang from five days before the reunions for prep work.
And the two Koreas will work to renovate the meeting rooms at Mount Kumgang -- for which the South will send inspection teams starting next Wednesday.
It's a concrete action plan adopted by the two Koreas two months after the inter-Korean summit talks in April -- there, the leaders of Seoul and Pyongyang agreed to hold the family reunions at around National Liberation Day, August 15th.
This will be the first family reunion in three years -- since October 2015.
Seoul and Pyongyang are to hold hold additional Red Cross talks and working-level meetings to continue discussions on humanitarian issues including the family reunions.
But Daniel, it seems the two Koreas weren't able to touch upon... or narrow down gaps in views on other humanitarian issues -- namely, the release of South Korean detainees in the North or Seoul providing humanitarian assistance to Pyongyang through UN agencies.
Today's joint press statement stipulates plans about the family reunions only.
Daniel.