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South Korea delays to select candidates for family reunions |
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August 5, 2000
SEOUL, (AP) - South Korea on Friday delayed by one day the selection of the final 100 people to be reunited with long-lost relatives in North Korea on Aug. 15, Red Cross officials said. The selection, originally scheduled to be made Friday, was delayed until Saturday, said Park Ki-ryun, secretary-general of the South Korean Red Cross. Park said officials need more time to ensure fairness of the selection. The family reunions were a key part of an agreement negotiated at a historic summit of leaders of the two Koreas in June. The accord calls for the two Koreas to exchange 100 people each for four days of temporary family reunions starting on Aug. 15. To increase the chances of reunions, the Koreas had exchanged the names of 200 candidates each in late June to check whether their families on the other side were alive and could be found. South Korea has confirmed the whereabouts of 198 of the 200 families whose names were given by the North. North Korea confirmed 138. The lists were exchanged last Wednesday. It will be the first round of family reunions since 1985, when 50 people from each side were allowed to cross the border to visit their relatives. Millions of people fled North Korea during the 1950-53 Korean War. Thousands of South Koreans are believed to have gone to the North voluntarily or after being inducted into the North's army. The Korean border is the world's most heavily fortified. There is no inter-Korean telephone, mail and other direct means of communications for private citizens. |
