Koreas agree to resume reunions of separate Korean families

Under the dramatic inter-Korean tension-breaking deal reached today (Tuesday), the two Koreas agreed to a working-level Red Cross contact in early September for the reunion of families separated by the 1950-1953 Korean War.

The agreed Red Cross contact represents a step toward materializing the proposed family reunions during the Chuseok holiday, a major full-moon harvest festival for both Koreas, that falls in late September.

South Korea has urged North Korea to join Seoul's efforts to resume the reunions for the families.

With a dwindling number of surviving members of the families, President Park Geun-Hye has vowed to update the list of the survivors here by next month. According to the Ministry of Unification, nearly 130,000 separated family members had been registered in Seoul since 1988, with only 66,000 remaining alive, many of them elderlies.

Under the Tuesday deal, Seoul and Pyongyang also agreed to facilitate private-sector exchanges in a wide variety of areas through dialogue in the near future.

North Korea watchers say the thawing mood will also lead to the resumption of the long-suspended tour programs by the South of the North's Mount Kumgang resort.