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N Korea calls off family reunions

Korean ministers
Ministers from North and South Korea had agreed to hold a fourth round of reunions  


By staff and wires

SEOUL, South Korea -- North Korea has postponed plans to hold reunions of families separated since the Korean War, citing a "warlike situation" in Seoul.

The reunions of 200 family members from both Koreas were to have been held next week. They were the fourth such gatherings since the leaders of both countries held a landmark summit in Pyongyang in June 2000.

While Pyongyang's statement did not explain its about face or specify what it meant by "warlike," Seoul's entire military and police force have been put on increased alert since the terrorist attacks in the United States.

North and South Korea share the world's most heavily armed border since they are still technically at war, and North Korea is on a U.S. list of countries suspected of sponsoring terrorism.

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The reunions were designed to help boost trust between the two Koreas but as tensions rise over the U.S.-led fight on terrorism, it appears as if the communist North is backing off.

In the 1950-53 Korean war, China backed the North and the United States the South.

Security 'incites us'

South Korean officials have called an emergency meeting to review the situation, The Associated Press has reported.

They say they are analyzing the Pyongyang broadcast and could not immediately explain the decision, which came as senior U.S. State Department official James Kelly was visiting Seoul.

But Seoul's Yonhap news agency did quote a Pyongyang statement as saying Seoul's moves to strengthen security "are dangerous acts that severely incite us."

The North said the postponement will be temporary until South Korea lifts its special alert status and creates a freer atmosphere for exchanges.

In addition to South Korea's 650,000-member military and 130,000-member police force being put on high alert, South Korea is home to about 37,000 U.S. troops, who are stationed there as a deterrent against the North.

'Die waiting'

South Korea's Red Cross has urged for the reunions to be held as soon as possible as many of those on the list are more than 80 years old.

Delays in the program had already seen reunion candidates die waiting.

"It is greatly regrettable that this has happened with the date already set for 100 visitors counting the days until their meeting," Lee Byung-woong, special counsel for South-North exchanges at the South Korean Red Cross, told Reuters news agency.

Red Cross organizations from both Koreas had finalized the lists of separated family members earlier this week.

Another blow

The North's postponement deals another blow to South Korean President Kim Dae-jung's efforts to promote inter-Korean exchanges under his "sunshine" policy.

The reunions were a key part of an agreement reached at cabinet-level talks in Seoul in mid-September, after talks between the Koreas had been stalled for six months.

Despite the reunion postponement, North Korea did say that cabinet-level and two other inter-Korean government contacts, scheduled to be held in the North this month, will still be held.



 
 
 
 



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