• Burmese
Sunday, June 22, 2025
No Result
View All Result
NEWSLETTER
The Irrawaddy
25 °c
Yangon
  • Home
  • News
    • Burma
    • Politics
    • World
    • Asia
    • Myanmar’s Crisis & the World
    • Ethnic Issues
    • War Against the Junta
    • Junta Cronies
    • Conflicts In Numbers
    • Junta Watch
    • Fact Check
    • Investigation
    • Myanmar-China Watch
    • Obituaries
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Opinion
    • Commentary
    • Guest Column
    • Analysis
    • Editorial
    • Stories That Shaped Us
    • Letters
  • Junta Watch
  • Ethnic Issues
  • War Against the Junta
  • In Person
    • Interview
    • Profile
  • Books
  • Donation
  • Home
  • News
    • Burma
    • Politics
    • World
    • Asia
    • Myanmar’s Crisis & the World
    • Ethnic Issues
    • War Against the Junta
    • Junta Cronies
    • Conflicts In Numbers
    • Junta Watch
    • Fact Check
    • Investigation
    • Myanmar-China Watch
    • Obituaries
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Opinion
    • Commentary
    • Guest Column
    • Analysis
    • Editorial
    • Stories That Shaped Us
    • Letters
  • Junta Watch
  • Ethnic Issues
  • War Against the Junta
  • In Person
    • Interview
    • Profile
  • Books
  • Donation
No Result
View All Result
The Irrawaddy
No Result
View All Result
Home News Asia

North, South Korea Discuss Reunion Meetings For Divided Families

Reuters by Reuters
June 22, 2018
in Asia
Reading Time: 2 mins read
0 0
A A
North and South Korean family members meet during the separated family reunions at Mount Kumgang resort, in this undated photo released by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) in Pyongyang on Oct. 21, 2015. / KCNA via Reuters

North and South Korean family members meet during the separated family reunions at Mount Kumgang resort, in this undated photo released by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) in Pyongyang on Oct. 21, 2015. / KCNA via Reuters

4.4k
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

SEOUL — Delegations from North and South Korea met on Friday for talks to arrange the first reunions in about three years for families separated by the Korean War, with the Red Cross paving the way.

The effort is among the steps promised by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in to improve relations that had deteriorated over the North’s nuclear and missile programs.

Friday’s meeting, which began at 10 a.m. in a hotel in North Korea’s tourist destination of Mount Kumgang, comes after the two sides agreed in April to pursue a reunion to mark a common national holiday in August.

RelatedPosts

Fraternal Facade: The Illusion of China-Myanmar Brotherhood at 75

Fraternal Facade: The Illusion of China-Myanmar Brotherhood at 75

June 10, 2025
1.3k
Myanmar Junta Promises Voting in 267 Townships

Myanmar Junta Promises Voting in 267 Townships

June 9, 2025
1.2k
Examining the Role of Private Security Firms in Chinese Force Projection

Examining the Role of Private Security Firms in Chinese Force Projection

April 3, 2025
1.7k

“We should make active efforts for good results today by trusting and being considerate of each other,” said Pak Yong Il, the leader of the North’s delegation.

“We should also part with the past and go down the road our leaders have forged for us,” added Pak, the deputy head of the North’s agency to promote reunification, the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland.

South Korean officials have called for the visits between separated families to resume as a “humanitarian and human rights issue,” especially since many individuals are now in their 80s.

Past reunions, some televised, have often unleashed floods of tears, with face-to-face encounters ending in painful separations. The last reunions were held in 2015.

The South has also sought to resume video conferences and the delivery of letters among families divided by the border.

Since 2000, about 23,676 separated Koreans, from both North and South, have met or interacted through videolink as part of the program, the Hyundai Research Institute thinktank said.

By March, 56 percent of the South’s 131,531 applicants for such reunions had died, it added.

It was unclear if Pyongyang had dropped a condition it had previously set for resuming the reunions, that Seoul return 12 North Korean women who worked at a North Korea-run restaurant in China and defected to South Korea as a group in 2016.

Several of the women said in May they were coerced into leaving, while South Korean officials said they were trying to verify their accounts.

As recently as May, the North Korean Red Cross organization urged South Korea to return the women “without delay.”

South Korean representatives to the Red Cross talks left on Thursday for the South’s eastern border town of Goseong and set out for the meeting venue in North Korea early on Friday.

“We’ll have good discussions on humanitarian issues with North Korea and how we’ll assuage the pain of the 57,000 family members separated,” Park Kyung-seo, the Korean Red Cross president in Seoul who heads the South’s delegation, said on Thursday.

Ties have warmed as relations between North Korea and the United States have improved after Kim met US President Donald Trump in Singapore last week in the two nations’ first summit.

The 1950-53 Korean War was concluded only with a truce, not a peace treaty, leaving the combatants technically still at war.

Your Thoughts …
Tags: Security
Reuters

Reuters

...

Similar Picks:

Reports of Forced Conscription by Myanmar’s Military Spark Panic in Yangon
Burma

Reports of Forced Conscription by Myanmar’s Military Spark Panic in Yangon

by Yuzana
November 24, 2023
11k

The former capital is turning into a ghost town after sunset as workers race to the safety of their homes...

Read moreDetails
Junta Passes Law Allowing Chinese Security Firms to Operate in Myanmar
Myanmar-China Watch

Junta Passes Law Allowing Chinese Security Firms to Operate in Myanmar

by Maung Kavi
February 19, 2025
8.4k

The law allows Chinese companies to provide security services for Chinese organizations, projects and businesses, as well as events involving...

Read moreDetails
With Proposed Security Gambit, Beijing Decides ‘Enough Is Enough’ in Myanmar
Analysis

With Proposed Security Gambit, Beijing Decides ‘Enough Is Enough’ in Myanmar

by The Irrawaddy
November 21, 2024
5k

China’s establishment of a joint venture security company with the junta to safeguard BRI projects in Myanmar shows it no...

Read moreDetails
Sleepless in Naypyitaw: Myanmar Junta Leader Lives in Fear of Assassination
Burma

Sleepless in Naypyitaw: Myanmar Junta Leader Lives in Fear of Assassination

by The Irrawaddy
April 30, 2024
4.7k

Mystery surrounds the daily movements of Min Aung Hlaing—and the temporary disappearance of his No. 2—but it is safe to...

Read moreDetails
Myanmar Junta Puts Leaders of Old Regime Under Surveillance
Burma

Myanmar Junta Puts Leaders of Old Regime Under Surveillance

by The Irrawaddy
July 25, 2024
3.9k

Ex-dictator Than Shwe and former President Thein Sein are among those being monitored by current junta boss Min Aung Hlaing’s...

Read moreDetails
Eight Takeaways From Myanmar Junta Chief’s Meeting With Putin
Burma

Eight Takeaways From Myanmar Junta Chief’s Meeting With Putin

by The Irrawaddy
March 5, 2025
3.7k

The two sides reached deals to cooperate on nuclear and space technology, among many others, and the junta boss backed...

Read moreDetails
Load More
Next Post
Presiding Judge Marc Perrin de Brichambaut, Judge Olga Herrera-Carbuccia and Judge Peter Kovacs in the courtroom of the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands, on March 24, 2017. / Reuters

ICC Gives Myanmar Deadline Over Rohingya Case Jurisdiction

U Kyaw Zeya. / Thazin Hlaing

Yangon’s Govt and Parliament at Odds

No Result
View All Result

Recommended

Trade and Traffic from Thai Border Region Dwindle as Checkpoints Multiply

Trade and Traffic from Thai Border Region Dwindle as Checkpoints Multiply

3 days ago
913
The Lady Myanmar’s Generals Can’t Defeat

The Lady Myanmar’s Generals Can’t Defeat

3 days ago
670

Most Read

  • Myanmar Junta Moves to Seize Sagaing Roads

    Myanmar Junta Moves to Seize Sagaing Roads

    shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Certifying a Chinese Security Invasion; Boosting Ties With Nuclear North Korea; and More

    shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Myanmar Junta Changes Election Law Ahead of Polls

    shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Residents of Myanmar Ruby Hub Speak Out as TNLA Mining Takes Toll

    shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Trade and Traffic from Thai Border Region Dwindle as Checkpoints Multiply

    shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0

Newsletter

Get The Irrawaddy’s latest news, analyses and opinion pieces on Myanmar in your inbox.

Subscribe here for daily updates.

Contents

  • News
  • Politics
  • War Against the Junta
  • Myanmar’s Crisis & the World
  • Conflicts In Numbers
  • Junta Crony
  • Ethnic Issues
  • Asia
  • World
  • Business
  • Economy
  • Election 2020
  • Elections in History
  • Cartoons
  • Features
  • Opinion
  • Editorial
  • Commentary
  • Guest Column
  • Analysis
  • Letters
  • In Person
  • Interview
  • Profile
  • Dateline
  • Specials
  • Myanmar Diary
  • Women & Gender
  • Places in History
  • On This Day
  • From the Archive
  • Myanmar & COVID-19
  • Intelligence
  • Myanmar-China Watch
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Food
  • Fashion & Design
  • Videos
  • Photos
  • Photo Essay
  • Donation

About The Irrawaddy

Founded in 1993 by a group of Myanmar journalists living in exile in Thailand, The Irrawaddy is a leading source of reliable news, information, and analysis on Burma/Myanmar and the Southeast Asian region. From its inception, The Irrawaddy has been an independent news media group, unaffiliated with any political party, organization or government. We believe that media must be free and independent and we strive to preserve press freedom.

  • Copyright
  • Code of Ethics
  • Privacy Policy
  • Team
  • About Us
  • Careers
  • Contact
  • Burmese

© 2023 Irrawaddy Publishing Group. All Rights Reserved

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
    • Burma
    • Politics
    • World
    • Asia
    • Myanmar’s Crisis & the World
    • Ethnic Issues
    • War Against the Junta
    • Junta Cronies
    • Conflicts In Numbers
    • Junta Watch
    • Fact Check
    • Investigation
    • Myanmar-China Watch
    • Obituaries
  • Politics
  • Opinion
    • Commentary
    • Guest Column
    • Analysis
    • Editorial
    • Stories That Shaped Us
    • Letters
  • Ethnic Issues
  • War Against the Junta
  • In Person
    • Interview
    • Profile
  • Business
    • Economy
    • Business Roundup
  • Books
  • Donation

© 2023 Irrawaddy Publishing Group. All Rights Reserved

This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used. Visit our Privacy and Cookie Policy.