SKorea leader pledges to push for cross-border reunions
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SEOUL, SEP 21 -
South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak said Tuesday he wanted to reach a deal with North Korea on regular reunions for families torn apart by war and separated for decades.
"The government will try to regularise it by any means," he told a television talk show at the start of the three-day Chuseok (autumn harvest) holiday, in a tearful appearance in which he recalled his late mother.
"She passed away too early," Lee said, his voice trembling with emotion.
Millions of people are heading to their home towns for this week's Chuseok festival as families get together, prepare special food to thank their ancestors and visit family graves.
Tens of thousands of Koreans have not seen family members since the 1950-1953 war sealed the peninsula's division with minefields and barbed wire.
About 80,000 elderly people in the South alone are desperate for a chance to see loved ones, but officials say up to 4,000 of them die each year before getting the chance.
After months of tension, the North on September 10 suggested restarting a family reunion programme.
Officials from North and South Korea met for talks last week but failed to agree on arrangements for the programme. They will meet again on Friday.
Relations soured dramatically this year after the South accused the North of torpedoing one of its warships in March, killing 46 sailors.
The North denied involvement, and threatened retaliation for military exercises staged by the South as a show of strength. But it has been making a series of apparent peace overtures this month.
Posted on: 2010-09-21 01:15
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