DPRK confirms agreement with S Korea on family reunions

PYONGYANG, Aug. 28 (Xinhua) -- The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) confirmed Friday that it has reached an agreement with South Korea to hold a new round of reunions for families separated by the Korean War.

Kim Young-chol (R), general secretary of Red Cross of the Republic of Korea (ROK), shakes hands with Choi Song-ik, vice chairman of the central committee of the Red Cross of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), during their meeting in Mountain Gumgang area in the DPRK, on Aug. 26, 2009. South Korea and the DPRK began talks for the reunion of separated families in Mount Gumgang area on Wednesday,  local media said. Delegates from Red-cross societies of the two side held a preliminary meeting from 5:40 pm, said the Yonhap News Agency. (Xinhua/Newsis)

The official KCNA news agency confirmed that the agreement was reached during three days of talks between Red Cross committees from both countries at the scenic Mount Kumgang resort in the DPRK.

"The north and the south also agreed to pursue consultations about Red Cross humanitarian issues including the issue of separated families and their relatives in the north and the south from the standpoint of developing the inter-Korean relations," the KCNA said.

The agreement calls for six days of temporary reunions, the first in nearly two years, involving 200 families, according to a joint statement.

Millions of families were separated by the Korean War, which ended in 1953 with a cease-fire, not a peace treaty. No mail, telephone, or email exchanges exist between ordinary citizens across the Korean border.

Icy relations between the two Koreas have thawed after a series of conciliatory gestures Pyongyang made toward the south, including the release of a detained Hyundai worker and a meeting between South Korean President Lee Myung Bak and a DPRK delegation that visited Seoul to mourn the death of former President Kim Dae Jung.