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The two Koreas have reached an agreement on the date of the much-anticipated and much-delayed
reunions for families separated by the Korean War.
They are scheduled for the third week of February, and if they go ahead as planned, they'll be
the first family reunions in more than three years.
Hwang Sung-hee reports. The two Koreas agreed on Wednesday to resume the long-suspended
reunions for families separated by the Korean War.
The reunions,... which would be the first in more than three years, are scheduled from
February 20th to the 25th at North Korea's Mt. Kumgang resort.
They will be conducted in two rounds, with 1-hundred family members from South Korea
meeting with their loved ones in the first round and another 1-hundred family members
from the North taking part in the second round. A team of South Korean engineers will cross
the border on Friday to check on facilities at the Mt. Kumgang resort,... and a South
Korean delegation will follow five days ahead of the event.
The planned reunions coincide with South Korea's annual joint military exercises with the United
States, which run from late February through April.
North Korea had earlier warned that the humanitarian event could not take place during the military
drills, and experts had pointed to the possibility of the North making a counterproposal on the
reunion dates. However, Seoul's unification ministry said
Pyongyang proposed to hold the reunions on February 20th, just three days later than
South Korea's initially proposed timeframe, and that the North did not make a fuss about
the upcoming drills during Wednesday's talks. Regarding North Korea's last-minute cancellation
of a round of family reunions last year, the ministry said the two Koreas agreed that such
an incident should not happen again. The two sides also agreed to hold another
round of Red Cross talks following the family reunions to discuss a range of humanitarian
issues, which includes holding the reunions on a regular basis.
Hwang Sung-hee, Arirang News.