News / Koreas

Koreas agree to hold family reunions in October

Tuesday, 08 September 2015 6:03 AM [ Last Update: Tuesday, 08 September 2015 6:03 AM ]

A September 8, 2015 photo released by the Unification Ministry of South Korea shows South and North Korean representatives shaking hands at the truce village of Panmunjom at the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) separating the two Koreas. (Photo by AFP)

North and South Korea have agreed to hold reunions next month for the families separated by the 1950-53 Korean War, Seoul says.

On Tuesday, the South announced that the reunions would be held on October 20 to 26 at the Mount Kumgang resort in North Korea, after nearly 24 hours of talks between the two sides at the border Panmunjom Village.

“The South and the North shared the view that we will work to fundamentally resolve humanitarian issues,” the South’s Unification Ministry said.

The reunions will be the first to be held since some 170 families met last February.

The elderly South Korean residents who left behind relatives in North Korea visit the Red Cross office in Seoul, September 7, 2015. (Photo by AFP)

The 1950-53 war, which divided the two Koreas, separated millions of people. According to South Korean Unification Ministry data, some 130,000 South Koreans have registered with Seoul since 1988 to see their family members in the North. However, only 66,000 are currently alive, with most being aged 70 or more.

The Tuesday agreement came weeks after the Koreas reached a deal to reduce cross-border tensions and end a military confrontation, which included an exchange of artillery fire.

The Korean Peninsula has been locked in a cycle of escalating military rhetoric since the Korean War. The two neighbors share one of the world’s most heavily fortified borders.

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