Expectations for Aug. 15 reunion

How would the Aug. 15 reunion of separated families from South and North Koreas be carried out?

Unless an unforeseen problem occurs, the 100 candidates each from South and North Koreas are expected to reunite with family members they`ve been long yearning to see. The advanced exchange of lists of 200 names between the South and North, in fact, was aimed at making reunion possible for all of the applicants. Other procedures are based upon those of 1985, when separated families from the South and the North visited Pyongyang and Seoul, respectively.

The 100 applicants each from the South and the North are expected to arrive in Pyongyang and Seoul on Aug. 15, hold group or individual meetings Aug. 16-17, and return home on Aug. 18. Details of the agenda during the rest of the stay will be confirmed at the truce village of Panmunjom by Red Cross officials immediately after the South and the North exchange the final list of candidates for reunion.

In this process, the two Koreas will notify each other of the venue for reunion. However, other agendas, including one for sightseeing, will be decided later through negotiation. The two Koreas have agreed to exchange the separated families either by land or air, thus leaving the possibility that the air route used to carry President Kim Dae-Jung to Pyongyang for the historic summit meeting last month will be used again.

Seoul decided on the Sheraton Walker Hill for lodgings for the North Korean group of visitors, taking into consideration problems of security and costs. But given the larger size of the visitors this time, group reunion will occur in a different place. The government is considering the COEX in Samsung-dong, southern Seoul, as a possible site, given that there will be 100 applicants wanting to meet an average of 5 or 6 family members in the South. This compares with 1985 when only 50 North Koreans came to Seoul to meet a total of 51 family members. If the press is taken into consideration, the venue should be such that it can accommodate about 1,000.

The government has decided on Hotel Lotte World in Chamsil as lodgings for South Koreans meeting North Korean visitors. The hotel is near the Sheraton Walker Hill. The government is also reportedly planning to pay for the lodging costs. Korean Folk Village in Yongin, Kyonggi Province, meanwhile, is being considered for the possible sightseeing venue for North Korean visitors, but the government has yet to discuss it with the North.

Meanwhile, Koryo Hotel in Pyongyang is seen as a strong candidate for lodgings and reunion site for South Korean visitors to the North, given its press center and a past experience of reunion.

Advance South-North negotiations for the reunion in Pyongyang are also drawing attention. To be negotiated are the method of reunion, frequency of meetings, as well as the way news coverage by South Korean media. Live broadcasting, as was the case for the summit meeting, is not likely. The number of press has been limited to 20, while the two Koreas have also agreed to follow the 1985 precedent of not broadcasting the event alive.