Koreas Make Fresh Breakthroughs over Family Reunion

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　　North and South Korea have made another slew¹ of breakthroughs regarding their core concerns.

 

　　Marc Cavigli has more.

 

　　North Korea has accepted working-level talks with South Korea about the potential restart of family reunions.

 

　　Red Cross delegates from both sides are set to sit down to discuss the possibility of holding family reunions again at the Panmunjom truce² village along the border.

 

　　North Korea had originally wanted the talks to be held at the Mount Kumgang resort.

 

　　However, South Korea rejected that notion, saying it doesn't want to link the potential reopening of that tourist facility to the issue of family reunions.

 

　　South Korean President Park Geun-hye has been pressing to have family reunions restarted for this year's Chuseok Festival, which falls on September 19th this year.

 

　　Family reunions have been suspended since 2010 after tensions on the Korean peninsula flared³ up.

 

　　The end of the fighting in the Korean War saw thousands of Korean families separated by the signing of the armistace which re-divided the peninsula after 3-years of fighting.

 

　　Meanwhile, South Korean Business owners have been allowed to visit the Kaesong Industrial complex just over the border in North Korea.

 

　　Along with a collection of government officials, the business owners traveled across the border in order to inspect the facilities ahead of the potential restart of the complex.

 

　　Lee Suk-ja is the President of Mansun Corporation, which manufactures clothes at Kaesong.

 

　　He says he fears the 4-month shutdown of the complex has driven away investors⁴ and buyers.

 

　　"Even if the door is open, there is work being done in other countries. Thus, we are looking forward to next year. But even then there will be a lot of the work done in other countries as well. That is our biggest worry; whether buyers will return to Kaesong. That is the biggest problem."

 

　　North and South Korea reached an agreement earlier this month to restart work at the site.

 

　　However, an exact date for the facility to reopen hasn't been made public.

 

　　North Korea effectively shut down the facility amid rising tensions on the Korean Peninsula in April by withdrawing the 54-thousand North Koreans who work at the site.

 

　　For CRI, I'm Marc Cavigli.

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