Criteria for family reunions set

The government and the South Korean National Red Cross Thursday finalized the criteria for the selection of divided family members hoping to participate in the upcoming August 15 inter-Korean reunion in their fourth special selection committee meeting.

The ad-hoc committee was expected to finalize the list of the 100 divided family members who will be included in the exchange visit. However, it decided to postpone this until Friday afternoon, when Pyongyang is expected to notify the South of the status of further separated relatives presumed to be living in the North.

According to the criteria put forth by the committee, those with parents, spouses or children living in the North will be given first priority for the reunion. Those with siblings will be given second priority and third will be given to those with other family members and relatives. For those in the same category, priority will be given to the elderly.

Judging by these criteria, it seems that 71-year-old Chang Yi-Yoon of Pusan will be included in the 100-strong South Korean delegation and will meet his 109-year-old mother currently living in the North.

Seventeen South Korean applicants have confirmed that their spouses are still alive in the North and 21 have been informed of their children`s whereabouts.

Meanwhile, the KNRC said that those divided family members who are excluded from the August 15 exchange visit will be given priority when the inter-Korean reunion center for divided families is established in the near future.