Media coverage of separated family reunion

How will memorable scenes from the reunions of separated families reach the South Korean audience?

The print media will send pictures and news articles on the reunions taking place in Pyongyang via direct phone links through Panmunjom. The articles and pictures will first be sent to the Seoul Press Center, set up at the Sheraton Walker Hill Hotel, and will then be passed on to individual newspaper companies. South and North Korea will each open ten direct phone lines while the reunions of separated families are taking place. The South Korean press will use four for press coverage. The remaining six will be open for government and Red Cross use. The fiber-optic cable open between the two Koreas will not be used this time.

As for broadcast media, there will be an approximately 20-minute delay before scenes of reunions taking place in the People`s Cultural Palace and Pyongyang Gymnasium appear on the TV screens of South Korean viewers. The broadcast stations will not use satellite news gathering equipment, which was employed during the June 15 inter-Korean summit talks, for the reunions. The taped reunion scenes will first be sent to the Pyongyang press center, set up at the Koryo Hotel. From there, using the North`s government-run Central TV`s microwave emission equipment, the scenes will be relayed to the Pyongyang Satellite Bureau. They will then be relayed to an Intelsat Satellite over the Indian Sea, then to Kumsan Satellite Bureau and then to Korea Telecom`s Satellite Operation Center in Kwanghwamun, from which they will be sent to individual broadcasting companies. The broadcasters will transmit the scenes to South Korean viewers.

The North is expected to use the 10 direct phone lines, but it has not yet disclosed how it will proportion the lines for media coverage. The North is also not expected to use SNG.