Not a bargaining chip
Published: 12 Jul. 2013, 21:50
We have to question if Pyongyang was sincere in the first place. It may have wanted to draw Seoul’s attention with the proposal as bait to recommence the profitable tourism program to Mount Kumgang that has been suspended since a South Korean tourist was shot to death by a North Korean guard in 2008. Reuniting family is strictly a humanitarian issue. It must not be used for any political or economic purposes. Pyongyang has tantalized the elderly people who wish to meet their separated families by proposing working-level talks as if it was doing them a favor and then reneging the following day.
Applicants waiting to meet their separated families once totaled 129,000. Of them, 56,000 have passed away. The surviving 73,000 are also very old, half of them being over 80. The reunions have been suspended for three years now. North Korea must not attach conditions to the humanitarian issue if it has any respect for the elderly whose last wishes are to meet their family members. There is not much time left.
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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