Koreas agree to resume reunions

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/6410599.stm

Version 0 of 1.

The two Koreas have agreed to restart reunions for families split since the division of the Korean Peninsula, after their first talks in seven months.

Officials said a video-link meeting would take place this month, followed by face-to-face reunions in May.

But there was no immediate resumption of deliveries of humanitarian aid for which the North had been pressing.

South Korea suspended its annual food aid after North Korea test-fired several missiles in July.

Relations were further strained by Pyongyang's nuclear test in October.

Seoul has linked the resumption of deliveries of rice and fertiliser to North Korean progress on dismantling its nuclear programme in accordance with a multilateral deal agreed in Beijing last month.

The two sides are scheduled to hold talks on economic issues from 18-21 April, by which time a sixty-day deadline for North Korea to shut down its Yongbyon nuclear reactor will have passed.

Train test

Negotiators for the two sides agreed the steps after four days of talks in Pyongyang.

INTER-KOREAN TALKS AGENDA Implementation of 13 February nuclear dealResumption of food and fertiliser shipmentsJoint economic and rail projectsResumption of family reunions

They also agreed to resume work on a centre for holding the reunions at the North's Mt Kumgang holiday resort.

Thousands of families were divided when the Korean Peninsula was split into two countries. Since a breakthrough inter-Korean summit in 2000, more than 13,000 people have taken part in the reunion meetings.

North Korea stopped the reunions in response to Seoul's decision to suspend aid.

Officials also reached agreement on holding a much-delayed test-run of trains on rail tracks that cross their mutual border in the first half of this year.

There has been a flurry of diplomatic activity since the North agreed to halt its nuclear programme in return for aid on 13 February.

Japanese and North Korean negotiators are to meet in Vietnam next week for talks expected to focus on the issue of Japanese nationals kidnapped by Pyongyang in the 1970s and 1980s.

Japan has linked normalising ties with North Korea and the provision of aid to resolving this issue.