Two Koreas exchange lists of candidates for family reunions

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Monday, March 01, 2004

Two Koreas exchange lists of candidates for family reunions

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South Korea and the DPRK Saturday exchanged the names of 400 candidates to meet their long-lost kin for the first time since they were separated due to the Korean War, according to Korea National Red Cross.

Red Cross officials from the two sides exchanged the lists at the truce village of Panmunjom at the heavily fortified border. The upcoming reunions are the ninth since the historic inter-Korean summit in 2000.

The family reunions, arranged by the Red Cross of the two Koreas, will be held from March 29 to April 3 at the regular venue at Mt. Kumgang, the DPRK's popular, scenic resort site, as agreed upon during the inter-Korean ministerial-level talks in Seoul earlier this month.

Of the North's 200 candidates, 181, or 90.5 percent, are in their 70s while 5, or 2.5 percent, are in their 80s. Of the South's 200 candidates, 90, or 45 percent, are in their 80s, while 77, or 38.5 percent, are in their 70s.

The names of the DPRK candidates were made public to the South through media reports and the Red Cross' homepage.

Seoul's Red Cross officials earlier selected its 200 candidates by computer lottery from among tens of thousands of applicants, giving priority to the aged and those with immediate relatives in the North. The list will be cut down again to 100 through confirmations that their relatives are alive.

In a move aimed at arranging more regular family reunions, South Korea and the DPRK agreed in November to build a permanent reunion center at the North's mountain resort by the first half of 2005. Groundbreaking is expected as early as April.

In South Korea alone, more than 100,000 people are on the waiting list, hoping to meet their northern relatives. A total of 8,051 dispersed family members on both sides have been temporarily reunited so far since the Korean War.

Source: Agencies

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