Displaced Family Reunions to Be Conducted at the Mount Kumgang on Dec. 10

It was known on Nov. 13 that South and North Korea had come near to an agreement at the 6th North-South Ministerial Level Talks that they would conduct displaced family reunions twice at the Mount Kumgang from Dec. 10.

Regarding the demand for South Korea to call off the emergency alert status, which had been the most controversial issue during the talks, South and North Korea agreed to conclude it at the level of the head of the South Korean delegation Hong Soon-Yong`s reference to ` moderate expressions` in his final address to the meeting. They also agreed to hold the 7th Ministerial Level Talks in Seoul.

But there is a possibility that the meeting will end in a stalemate since they failed to agree on the location for the second meeting of the economic cooperation committee in the process of releasing a joint statement for the press, concerning which South Korea favored Seoul while North insisted upon the Mount Kumgang.

South and North Korea tried to settle the joint statement for the press by postponing the departure of the cruise ship to the Mount Kumgang, Seolbong, scheduled to leave Jangjeon Port at 2:30 PM, but failed to reach an agreement. Accordingly, the South Korean delegation decided to extend the meeting with the North for 2 more days than it had been originally scheduled and to return to Seoul on Nov. 14.

Head of the South Korean delegation Hong once expressed his intent to retreat his delegation team in the middle of the meeting on Nov. 13 as the North did not concede their insistence, but recalled them after receiving instructions from Seoul.

spear@donga.com