South Korean team heads to North for family reunions

South Korean officials travelled to North Korea Wednesday to prepare reunions for relatives separated by their tense border.

Lee Jong-chol of the Red Cross is in charge of the 18-member delegation, which was only able to enter the North with Pyongyang’s permission.

Some 93 family members from the South are set to be reunited with their North Korean relatives from next Monday to Wednesday. Then from Friday to Sunday, 88 chosen individuals from the North will have the opportunity to meet their kin from South Korea.

The events at North Korea’s Mount Kumgang resort will be the first of their kind since 2015 and represent a key outcome of April’s breakthrough inter-Korean summit.

Pyongyang’s state-run media had recently reported threats to cancel the reunions amid criticisms of Seoul for holding firm on sanctions against the North as well as allegedly luring a group of overseas North Korean restaurant workers to escape from their post in China in 2016.

However, plans appear to be proceeding smoothly, with South Korea’s advance team in line to carry out inspections and remain in the North until the reunions are finished.

Concerns have been mounting that time is running out for 56,000 registered separated relatives in South Korea alone, given that more than seven decades have passed since the Korean War broke out.