Joint talks stall on size of facility for family meets

Home > National > Politics

print dictionary print

Joint talks stall on size of facility for family meets

MOUNT GEUMGANG -- Red Cross talks between the two Koreas practically fell apart yesterday over differences on how to build a permanent reunion place. Although the two sides reached an agreement in principle to hold an event in February to temporarily reunite families separated since the 1950-53 Korean War, the future of the meeting is clouded.

The two Koreas held a final negotiation at the North's Mount Geumgang resort to wrap up three days of talks. The chief delegates from both sides each presented blueprints for the planned permanent meeting place and raised other issues, such as locating separated families and those missing in action during the Korean War. The size of the permanent meeting place was a particular point of contention, which eventually led the talks into rupture.

The South proposed a building with a floor area of 7, 590 square meters, having 130 rooms to serve 100 family members and 30 staff. The North at first demanded a building with a floor area of 66,000 square meters, then scaled down its plan to 49,500 square meters, which is still more than three times larger than the lodging facilities in the Geumgang resort. The estimated construction cost to meet the North's demand is 200 billion won ($164 million). The North also insisted that the next family reunion take place only after the South delivered the construction materials for the building.

The location of the permanent meeting place was confirmed as Jopo village near the Mount Geumgang resort; the delegates agreed to form a joint task force in January to begin site clearance before March.

"The North agreed in principle to hold the sixth round of family reunions," a South Korean source said yesterday. But the two sides agreed in October to hold an additional reunion before the end of this year. Discord about building the permanent meeting place scrapped that plan.

by Joint Press Corps

Log in to Twitter or Facebook account to connect
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
help-image Social comment?
s
lock icon

To write comments, please log in to one of the accounts.

Standards Board Policy (0/250자)