North, South Korea agree to hold family reunion meets in August

100 people from each side can meet their long-lost relatives

June 22, 2018 09:45 pm | Updated December 01, 2021 06:19 am IST - Seoul

 A South Korean woman with her North Korean father during a reunion meeting in October 2015. (FILE)

A South Korean woman with her North Korean father during a reunion meeting in October 2015. (FILE)

Delegations from North and South Korea agreed on Friday to arrange the first reunions in three years of some of the families separated by the 1950-53 Korean War.

The reunions — scheduled for August 20 to August 26 — are among steps promised by North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in.

“The whole world is marvelling at the amazing developments between the North and South,” said Pak Yong-il, the leader of the North Korean delegation at the talks that took place at a hotel in North Korea’s tourist destination of Mount Kumgang.

The reunions will be held at Mount Kumgang, the two sides said, with 100 people from each side to be chosen to meet long-lost relatives from the other side.

The first reunions were held in 1985. About 20 have been held since then with the last in 2015.

Since 2000, about 23,676 separated Koreans, from both North and South, have either met or interacted through video-link as part of the programme, the Hyundai Research Institute think tank said.

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