Korean Red Cross to Announce Reunions as Ties WarmThe South Korean Red Cross will announce on Friday the names of 100 people who will be allowed to cross the world's most heavily-armed border later this month for a reunion with their North Korean kin in Pyongyang.North and South Korea have scheduled a flurry of events and meetings in August, signalling the new-found warmth between the two countries, who remain technically at war. The new initiatives follow the historic joint communique agreed by leaders of the two Korea's in Pyongyang in June. A North Korean airliner is also due to bring 100 people to South Korea to meet their southern kin for reunions of families divided when war broke out 50 years ago. Seven million South Koreans have relatives in the North who they cannot visit or contact because the 1950-53 Korean war ended in a truce that has yet to be replaced by a peace accord. A North Korean symphony orchestra will hold a concert in Seoul on August 15 to celebrate the family get-togethers. The presidents of major South Korean news organisations will visit Pyongyang between August 5-12 at the invitation of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il. On August 15, Seoul and Pyongyang will reopen liaison offices at the truce village of Panmunjom. Shut down in 1996 after four years of operations, the offices will serve as a permanent channel of inter-Korean communication. The two Koreas plan joint celebrations in each country on that day to mark Korea's liberation from Japanese colonial rule. Late last month, Seoul announced it would provide 100,000 tonnes of fertiliser to North Korea by the end of August, in addition to the 200,000 tonnes donated ahead of the June summit. South Korean businessmen are looking to make hay while the sun shines on relations. Recently, 30 officials from Samsung group, South Korea's second largest conglomerate, visited Pyongyang. Samsung plans to set up electronics assembly plants in the North. The nation's largest conglomerate, the Hyundai Group, which has been leading South Korea's investment in North Korea, will send a 44-member delegation on Saturday to the North to look at possible sites for a giant industrial complex it plans to build. They will be followed two days later by Chung Mong-hun, the head of Hyundai's North Korean operations who is bringing with him 500 head of cattle as a gift. The second round of high-level government talks is scheduled for August 29-31 in Pyongyang and could give more impetus to the growing economic ties. |
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