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Korean Red Cross begins checking fate of separated families in S. Korea

September 1, 2015
Volunteers make phone calls to separated families in South Korea at the headquarters of South Korea's Red Cross in Seoul on Sept. 1, 2015, to see if they will agree to exchange a list of separated family members with North Korea. In a landmark deal, the two Koreas agreed last week to resume the much-anticipated reunions of families separated by the 1950-53 Korean War on the occasion of Korea's fall harvest holiday slated for September. (Yonhap)

Volunteers make phone calls to separated families in South Korea at the headquarters of South Korea’s Red Cross in Seoul on Sept. 1, 2015, to see if they will agree to exchange a list of separated family members with North Korea. In a landmark deal, the two Koreas agreed last week to resume the much-anticipated reunions of families separated by the 1950-53 Korean War on the occasion of Korea’s fall harvest holiday slated for September. (Yonhap)

SEOUL (Yonhap) — The Korean Red Cross said Tuesday it has kicked off the process to confirm the fate of more than 66,000 South Korean family members who were separated by the 1950-53 Korean War and are known to be alive in a bid to prepare for an upcoming family reunion event.

The Korean Red Cross said that it has begun a 15-day project to contact separated family members who are believed to be alive and ask whether they will agree to exchange a list of separated family members with the North.

More than 129,600 people are registered in the government’s database as applicants for the family reunions as of end-2014, and half of them are reported to have died.

South and North Korea have agreed to resume the much-awaited reunions of separated families on the occasion of Korea’s fall harvest holiday slated for late September. The family reunions have not been held since early 2014.

Red Cross officials from the two Koreas will have working-level talks next Monday at the truce village of Panmunjom.

The list of separated families will be delivered to North Korea if the two sides reach an agreement on the details over the reunion.

A Unification Ministry official said the agenda for the working-level talks will likely include ways to hold the family reunion events on a regular basis.

Whether a video-based reunion will be allowed to be resumed may be handled Monday, but nothing has been decided yet, the official said on the background.

Since the first inter-Korean summit in 2000, the two Koreas have held 19 rounds of face-to-face family reunion events so far, including the last one in February 2014.

Seven rounds of video-based reunions have been held, which makes it easier for separated family members with health problems or living in provincial areas to take part.

The ministry official said that it is highly likely that North Korea would propose a meeting room at Mount Kumgang in the North as the venue for the upcoming reunion event. Given the time needed for the event, the reunion is likely to be held in October.