North Korea said Wednesday it would scrap cross-border family reunions on the divided peninsula, accusing South Korea of siding with its Western allies in the stand-off over Pyongyang's missile launches. The North's Red Cross chief, Jang Jae-On, slammed South Korea for "abusing the humanitarian issue for meeting its sinister purpose to serve the outsiders."
"Our side is, therefore, of the view that it has become impossible to hold any discussion related to humanitarian issues, to say nothing of arranging any reunion between separated families and relatives between the two sides," he said in a letter to South Korea. At inter-Korean ministerial talks last week, South Korea urged the defiant communist country to give an assurance that it would stop test-firing any more missiles and return to six-party talks on its nuclear weapons program.
But North Korea refused to budge, insisting Washington should first remove financial sanctions imposed on it for alleged money-laundering and counterfeiting.
In response South Korea, the biggest donor to the impoverished North, refused to discuss further humanitarian aid until a breakthrough is made on the missile and nuclear issues. North Korean delegates issued an angry statement at the time warning of "disastrous" consequences for relations.
South Korea's Red Cross chief Han Wan-Sang expressed strong regret over North Korea's "disappointing" decision to scrap the reunions. "Family reunions are a humanitarian issue. This is not supposed to be linked to a pending political issue. North Korean Red Cross chief Jang Jae-On's letter is disappointing," Han told journalists.
"It came out all of a sudden. We were preparing for family reunions in August and we did not expect them to scupper the agreement." In Korea, family reunions are a pressing issue as more and more people are dying without seeing long-lost relatives on the other side of the heavily fortified border.
The peninsula was divided politically in 1948, a split that was cemented by the 1950-53 war. The two nations have yet to sign a peace treaty following the end of the conflict.
The two Koreas decided at a landmark summit in 2000 to start more systematic reunions. Since then more than 13,600 Koreans have taken part in them. The last such meeting took place on June 19 at North Korea's Mount Kumgang resort. The North's Red Cross chief said South Korea had laid "a stumbling block" to reconciliation.
"This is an act of treachery little short of sacrificing the humanitarian work between fellow countrymen to serve the US and Japan keen on applying sanctions against (North Korea) with bitterness toward it," he said. Therefore, it was impossible to arrange a special video meeting of separated families to mark Korea's liberation from Japanese colonial rule on August 15 or to construct a reunion center at the Kumgang resort, he said.
Despite tensions over the missile tests and strained ties, South Korea has vowed to push for peaceful engagement with North Korea and called for settlement through dialogue. South Korean President Roh Moo-Hyun on Wednesday warned against overreacting to the North's missile tests.
Comments
Comments are closed.