3rd inter-Korean reunions set for Monday

South and North Korea will exchange visits by 100 separated family members each Monday in the third round of their reunion program.

The North Korean visitors, made up of 140 people, 100 separated family members, 26 support personnel, 13 media representatives and the delegation leader, will arrive at Kimpo International Airport at about 10:30 a.m., led by Kim Kyong-Rak, standing member of the Central Committee of the North Korean Red Cross. The South Korean delegation, composed of 100 separated family members, 30 support personnel and 20 media representatives, will depart Kimpo for Pyongyang at about noon on North Korea`s Koryo Airlines. The plane will then transport the North Korean visitors, headed by Chang Jung-Ja, a vice president of the (Republic of) Korea National Red Cross (KNRC).

On the eve of their departure for Pyongyang, the 100 South Korean reunion applicants gathered at Lotte World Hotel in Chamsil, southeastern Seoul, to undergo customs procedures and receive a briefing on the trip from Red Cross officials. In accordance with a North Korean request made during a liaison officers` meeting in Panmunjom on Feb. 24, the KNRC vaccinated those aged 45 or younger against measles.

South Korean participants in the reunions will check into to the Koryo Hotel in Pyongyang while their North Korean counterparts will register at the Lotte World Hotel in Seoul. After lunch, the long-awaited reunions with their kin will take place at the Koryo Hotel and in Central City`s Millennium Hall from 3:30 p.m. to 6 p.m. On the second day, participants will meet with their families individually over dinner at their respective hotels. The South Korean side also plans to host a joint luncheon meeting to be attended by North Korean visitors` families in the South.

Participants in the reunions in Seoul will meet for a total of 10 hours on six separate occasions, longer than in the previous reunions, and for about eight hours on five occasions in Pyongyang.

Kim Young-Sik spear@donga.com