Confirmation of being alive

The Korea National Red Cross revealed that out of the list of 200 separated families provided by the North Korea National Red Cross as of the 17th 4:00pm 134 individuals have been confirmed to be alive.

A KNRC official remarked "After releasing the North's list to the media, the confirmation job has sped up considerably and possibly by the 18th the confirmation for all 200 families will be completed."

Both the government and the Red Cross plan to finish the confirmation process as soon as possible taking advantage of data at the separated families information center, Red Cross data and also the police.

Once the confirmation work is completed, the verified lists will be exchanged on the 26th and the final list will be reduced to 100 each. These lucky families will each visit Pyongyang and Seoul on the 15th of next month to reunite with their families.

However, the August 15th reunion will fall far short of satisfying all North-South separated families. Hence, the government will re-initiate Red Cross talks with the North to focus efforts on setting up a visitation station for separated families, after long-term nonconverted prisoners are returned to North Korea in September. There are also plans by the government to push for separated families to visit each other in their hometowns, not only Pyongyang and Seoul