Officials from North and South Korea began holding another round of talks Friday on resuming reunions of families separated since the Korean War 60 years ago.
The talks, which convened in the North Korean border town of Kaesong, are aimed at resolving where the reunions will be held. Both sides have agreed the reunions will be held at North Korea’s Mount Kumgang resort. But two previous round of talks last month failed to reach agreement on the exact venue. Pyongyang wants Seoul to resume tourist visits to Kumgang, which brought much-needed hard currency to the cash-strapped regime. The tours were suspended after a South Korean woman was shot and killed by a North Korea guard in 2008, after she entered a restricted military zone.Tens of thousands of Koreans have been separated since a 1953 truce ended the three-year Korean war and divided the communist North and democratic South. The last round of reunions was held exactly one year ago. The talks are the latest signs of improving relations between communist North and democratic South, which deteriorated after the deadly sinking of a South Korean warship in March.
Seoul has blamed the incident on Pyongyang, a charge the regime denies. Military officials from both sides met Thursday in the border truce village of Panmunjon in the first such talks in two years. The discussions ended after the North Korean delegation refused to apologize for the March sinking of the Cheonan, which killed 46 sailors – Voanews
