Around 180 families, who were torn apart by the 1950-53 Korean War, will be temporarily reunited in North Korea starting from August 20, 2018. The move comes after the two Koreas renewed exchanges in 2018 following the decades-long standoff over North Korea’s nuclear and missile programmes.
Key Highlights
• The reunions, the first in three years, will take place in the North’s tourist resort on Mount Kumgang, as agreed by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in during their first summit in April.
• The South Korean family members arrived at the coastal border city of Sokcho on August 19 to be briefed by officials on the reunion and for a brief health check-up, before crossing the border on August 20.
• About 89 South Koreans crossed the military demarcation line to enter into North Korea on August 20. The group is scheduled to return to the South on August 22.
• A group of 83 North Koreans will also be reunited with relatives who live in the South from August 24 to August 26 at the same resort.
As of July, about 56,000 people in the South were registered as separated family members. Among them, 41.2 percent are reported to be in their 80s and 21.4 percent to be in their 90s, as per government data. The separated families are victims of a decades-long standoff between the two neighbouring nations, which escalated over the past several years with North Korea rapidly expanding its nuclear weapons and missile programmes. |
Background
• South Korea has been calling for regular meetings between the separated families including using video conferences for years, but the reunion programs were cut short due to fragile relations with the North over its nuclear programmes that threaten the South.
• However, during the summit with US President Donald Trump in June 2018, the North Korean leader Kim Jong Un pledged to abandon his country’s nuclear programs if the US provided security guarantees.
• Around 93 families from both sides of the border were initially scheduled for a three-day gathering from August 20, but four South Korean members canceled their trip to the North at the last minute due to health conditions, as per data by Red Cross.
• The brief family reunions began in 1985 and as of July 2018, a total of 132,600 individuals are listed as separated families on both sides of the border.
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• The Korean War, which took place between 1950 and 53, was a war between North Korea and South Korea. It took place during the Cold War between the United States of America and the Soviet Union. 
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