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Kim Hong-geol, president of the South Korean Council for Reconciliation and Cooperation, speaks with reporters in Beijing on July 19 after his trip to North Korea (Yonhap News)
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South and North Korean Council for Reconciliation and Cooperation agrees and signs document
The South Korean Council for Reconciliation and Cooperation, a deliberative body facilitating inter-Korean exchange in the private sector, announced that it is planning to work with North Korea to repatriate the remains of Koreans drafted for labor during the Japanese imperial occupation. While on his way back to South Korea on July 19 after a four-day trip to North Korea, council president Kim Hong-geol met with reporters at Beijing Capital International Airport. “I drafted and signed an agreement [with the North Koreans] to bring back the remains of the victims of forced labor from Japan. The signing ceremony was held at Mansudae Assembly Hall in Pyongyang yesterday afternoon [July 18] with Kim Yong-dae, president of the North Korean council and vice chair of a permanent committee in the Supreme People’s Assembly,” Kim Hong-geol said. “In addition to the agreement about cooperating on the repatriation of remains, we discussed continuing deliberations about several kinds of private sector exchange, such as extending invitations to North Korean officials. We could invite them to Seoul, meet them in Beijing or go to Pyongyang,” Kim Hong-geol said. The council is planning to proceed with more concrete discussions during working-level meetings starting next month. Kim Hong-geol said that he also met Ri Taek-gon, vice director of the Workers’ Party of Korea’s United Front Department. Ri was one of the North Korean officials who attended the inter-Korean summit this past April.
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Kim Hong-geol (center), president of the South Korean Council for Reconciliation and Cooperation, prepares to depart for North Korea with fellow council members on July 17. (Kim Hong-geol Facebook page)
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