N. Korea rejects family reunion offer
Print Edition
North Korea yesterday dismissed a South Korean proposal to resume reunions of families separated by war.
The reunion program has been stalled amid tension between the rival Koreas since late 2010. They agreed to resume the humanitarian program last September but North Korea abruptly canceled the plan.
North Korea wants to link the reunions to a restart of a lucrative joint tourism project at its scenic Diamond Mountain, according to Seoul officials. But South Korea wants to deal separately with the tourism project, which provided a legitimate source of hard currency for the impoverished North before it was suspended when North Korean soldiers fatally shot a South Korean tourist there in 2008.
South Korea offered this week to hold talks today on resuming the reunions around the Lunar New Year holiday later this month, saying it could help improve strained ties. The Lunar New Year is traditionally a time when relatives get together.
North Korea said yesterday the talks could take place “at a good season” if South Korea is willing to discuss “the proposals of our side.”
It also said the reunions could not occur this month because of annual springtime military drills planned by South Korea and the United States, saying the separated families could not have “reunions in peace amid gunfire.”
Millions of families have been separated since the 1950-53 Korean War.
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