Sep 27, 2009 10:15 am US/Eastern
Official: N Korea Seeks Reward For Family Reunions
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) ―
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South Korean Kim Moon-Hyung meets his North Korean sisters during a separated family reunion meeting at the Mount Kumgang resort on Sept. 27, 2009, in Mount Kumgang, North Korea.
Pool/Getty Images/Getty Images
North Korea wants South Korea to reward it for resuming reunions of families separated by the Korean War, an official said Sunday after the communist nation hosted the first such meetings in two years.
Hundreds of Korean families separated for more than half a century were reunited Saturday under a temporary reunion program. The North agreed last month to resume the Red Cross-arranged reunions in part of efforts to reach out to South Korea and the U.S. after months of tension over its nuclear and missile programs.
South Korean Red Cross chief Yoo Chong-ha told reporters covering the reunion at the North's Diamond Mountain resort that his North Korean counterpart Jang Jae On asked him Saturday about Seoul rewarding Pyongyang for the family reunions.
According to South Korean media pool reports, Yoo quoted Jang as saying: "This reunion was (arranged) as the North offered a special amity. How about South Korea offering its amity in response to this?"
Yoo said the North Korean Red Cross chief didn't say what reward his country wants from the South. But the pool reports, without citing any source, said the North appeared to be seeking resumption of food and fertilizer aid to the North, noting the country made similar demands in the past.
For years, South Korea had been one of Pyongyang's biggest benefactors. But South Korea has suspended unconditional aid to the impoverished North amid frayed ties following the inauguration last year of conservative President Lee Myung-bak. He took a harder line on the regime than previous more liberal governments that actively engaged the North. Family reunions, which began in 2000, had also been halted following Lee's inauguration.
Millions of families remain separated following the Korean peninsula's division in 1945 and the ensuing Korean War, which ended with an armistice in 1953, not a peace treaty. There are no mail, telephone or e-mail exchanges between ordinary citizens from the two Koreas. They are unable to travel to the other half of the peninsula without government approval.
The resumed reunions are to last through Oct. 1 but it remains unclear when they may be held again.
The reunions are a highly emotional issue for Koreans, as most of those applying for the chance to see their long-lost loved ones are elderly and are eager for a reunion before they die.
Since 2000, more than 16,200 Koreans have held temporary face-to-face reunions with relatives. About 3,740 others have seen relatives in video reunions.
(© 2010 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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