DPRK Proposes Resumption of Inter-Korean Red Cross TalksThe Democratic People's Republicof Korea (DPRK) Thursday proposed to hold in January the third round of inter-Korean Red Cross talks, said a statement issued by a spokesman for the Central Committee of the Red Cross Society of the DPRK.The statement said that the 2001 meeting for the independent reunification of the Korean nation, which was held in Pyongyang on Wednesday, called for earlier settlement of the humanitarian issues, including the issue of alleviating the sufferings of the separated families and relatives in the north and south, and resuming the suspended Red Cross talks as soon as possible. "This is an expression of our fixed stand and will to sincerely implement the points agreed upon by the north and the south to rapidly settle the humanitarian issues, as required by the historic Pyongyang meeting and the June 15 north-south joint declaration," it said. The first and second rounds of inter-Korean Red Cross talks were held in June and September last year respectively. During the talks, the north and south reached a series of agreeements on such issues as the exchange of visits between separated families and the repatriation of unconverted long-term prisoners. The third round of inter-Korean Red Cross meeting was scheduled to open in the DPRK on December 13-15 last year, but was suspended after Chang Choong-shik, former chairman of the South Korean Red Cross, made statements against the DPRK. Pyongyang and Seoul are seeking ways to resolve the separated family issue, including the exchange of mails between separated families and the establishment of a permanent meeting point, at the third round inter-Korean Red Cross meeting. There are more than 10 million separated family members on the peninsula due to the Korean War in 1950-1953. Implementation of North-South Joint Declaration UrgedThe Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) urged people in the north and south of the Korean Peninsula to make joint efforts to implement the north-south joint declaration and strive for earlier reunification of the nation, the official newspaper Rodong Sinmun reported Thursday, January 11.Yang Hyong Sop, vice president of the Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly, made the call in a report at a meeting aimed at reunification of the Korean nation here Wednesday. The meeting, which focused on the implementation of the joint declaration, was also attended by Kim Yong Nam, president of the presidium, and Choe Thae Bok, secretary of the Central Committee of the Worker's Party of Korea. Yang said that the key to an epochal turn in national reunification this year is to implement the joint declaration to the letter. The authorities and politicians in the north and the south should take their responsibilities to get rid of the old conception of confrontation, build confidence and pool their efforts through visits, contacts and dialogues. An appeal for implementing the declaration was adopted at the meeting. It called for making 2001 "a year of the independent reunification of the Korean nation," setting the period from June 15, the first anniversary of the publication of the historic declaration, to August 15 Liberation Day as a "June 15-August 15 period of the movement for the promotion of national reunification " and decorating the first liberation day in the 21st century as a nationwide pro-reunification festival. It called for sending unconverted long-term prisoners supposed to be repatriated back to the north, conveying whereabouts of separated families and relatives and resuming the suspended red cross talks as soon as possible. It also called for activating multi-faceted cooperation and exchanges between the north and the south based on the principle of co-prosperity and common interests and positively putting into practice the already agreed timetables of cooperation and exchanges. |
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