Inter-Korean Soccer Match Will Commemorate Liberation Day in Seoul.

An inter-Korean soccer match will take place in the ceremony to commemorate the 60th anniversary of Korea’s liberation from Japanese colonial rule. The ceremony is scheduled to be held in Seoul next month.

An official from the Ministry of Unification said on July 18, “Chung Dong-young, the minister of unification, proposed a historic inter-Korean soccer match. He reportedly asked Hyun Jeong-eun, chairwoman of the Hyundai Group, and Kim Yoon-kyu, vice chairman and CEO of Hyundai Asan Corp., to deliver his message to Kim Jong Il, the North Korean leader, at a meeting held on July 16,” adding, “Kim replied that he agreed to the proposal and promised to send the North Korean soccer team.”

The South and the North will meet at a soccer field during North and South Korea’s joint Liberation Day festivities towards an independent and peaceful unification which will be held in Seoul from August 14 until 17.

Meanwhile, a source from the ministry said that the two Koreas agreed in principle on a reunion of separated families via a video link on a test basis on August 15 in commemoration of the 60th anniversary of Liberation Day.

The official said, “In inter-Korean working-level Red Cross talks which were held on July 12 and July 13 in Gaesong, North Korea, the two parties reached an overall agreement,” adding, “A total of 40 families from both Koreas, 20 families each, will be reunited.”

To make this happen, the two Koreas held a ceremony to congratulate the connection of optical cables across the border with the presence of participants from Korea Telecom (KT) and from the North Korean postal service south of the Military Demarcation Line (MDL) near the Gyeongui railway station at 2:00 p.m. on July 18.

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