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Two Koreas exchange names for family reunions
AFP - Thursday, October 21
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Two Koreas exchange names for family reunions
SEOUL (AFP) - – North and South Korea Wednesday wrapped up preparations for resuming reunions of families separated by war 60 years ago, a move which could help improve acrimonious cross-border relations.
But Seoul expressed wariness about the apparent conciliatory moves by its neighbour, in light of the deadly sinking of a South Korean warship.
The two sides exchanged lists of 100 people from each side who will be reunited in the North with relatives for three days starting October 30, Seoul's unification ministry said.
The South gave priority to the oldest but still healthy applicants, said spokeswoman Lee Jong-Joo.
All the 100 South Koreans are older than 70, and 21 of them are in their 90s, including a 97-year-old woman who will meet her daughter in the North.
They represent a tiny fraction of the tens of thousands on both sides of the heavily fortified border who have not seen loved ones since the 1950-53 war.
There are no civilian mail or phone services and many do not even know whether relatives are alive or dead.
Only about 20,800 family members have joined the reunions -- one fifth of these via video link -- since the programme began in earnest in 2000.
A ministry official told AFP that 500 people were randomly selected by computer from some 100,000 Southerners eager for reunion.
The list was reduced to 200 and names were passed to the North to check if relatives there are still alive.
"The North sent back a list of 112 people whose relatives it was able to find. We then selected 100 of the 112 people, taking into account their health," the official said.
Up to 4,000 applicants for the programme die each year while waiting.
Cross-border relations have been icy since the South in May accused the North of torpedoing the Cheonan corvette near their disputed border in March with the loss of 46 lives.
The North vehemently denies responsibility but in recent weeks has made some peace gestures, including offering to resume the reunion programme after a hiatus of one year.
Unification Minister Hyun In-Taek expressed caution.
"I cannot but ask whether returning to the days before the Mount Kumgang incident and the Cheonan sinking, as if nothing had happened, would be the right option for development of inter-Korean relations," Hyun said in a lecture.
Apart from an apology for the ship sinking, Seoul wants Pyongyang to apologise for fatally shooting a South Korean housewife who strayed into a military zone at the North's Mount Kumgang resort in July 2008.
The North, while making some reconciliatory gestures, still remains silent on "fundamental issues" such as its nuclear programme and the Cheonan incident that hinder progress in relations, Hyun said.
"What is important now is not when to start dialogue, but how to," he said.
Some politicians, including the new leader of the main opposition party, Sohn Hak-Kyu, and Kim Moon-Soo, a senior ruling party member, have urged Seoul to resume food aid and improve frozen ties.
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