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Video reunions for divided Korean families at the South Korean Red Cross headquarters in Seoul on Aug. 15, 2005. (photo pool)
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Last video reunions for divided families took place over 10 years ago
The South Korean government has decided to invest 3.09 billion won (US$2.73 million) from the Inter-Korean Cooperation Fund to pay for video conferencing equipment in North Korea and to repair and maintain South Korea’s video reunion centers before attempting to arrange video reunions for Korean families who have been divided since the Korean War. South Korea’s Unification Ministry announced on Mar. 21 that “during the 303rd meeting of the Inter-Korean Exchange and Cooperation Promotion Committee, the government gave written approval of a plan to support video reunions for the divided families with the inter-Korean cooperation fund.” The 3.09 billion won earmarked by the government will be used to fund repairs and maintenance of 13 video reunion centers in South Korea, including one at the headquarters of the Korean Red Cross, and of North Korea’s video reunion center at the Koryo Hotel Pyongyang. Unification Ministry Spokesperson Baik Tae-hyun addressed the issue of providing North Korea with funds for video conferencing equipment as follows: “We’ve completed the process of securing a waiver from the UN and the US. We’re getting ready to deliberate [video reunions] with North Korea at the Joint Liaison Office in Kaesong as soon as our internal preparations are finished.” The video reunions were a top-priority project that South and North Korea agreed to pursue through Red Cross talks in Article 3, Paragraph 2, of the Pyongyang Joint Declaration, in Sept. 2018. Video reunions for the divided families took place on seven occasions between 2005 and 2007, during the presidency of Roh Moo-hyun, with 557 families (3,748 people) from South and North Korea taking part. No video reunions have taken place during the 10 years since then, however. “In order to have more video reunions, we’ll need to replace equipment and repair the video reunion centers on both sides of the border that have been neglected for more than a decade,” said an official from the Unification Ministry. Seoul also agreed to invest 1.58 billion won (US$1.4 million) from the Inter-Korean Cooperation Fund into a project for DNA testing of the divided families. “Because of the advanced age of the divided families and their increasing mortality rate, we need to come up with a plan for storing records of the first generation of divided families and facilitating exchange after their deaths,” the Unification Ministry said. The DNA testing will include two types: Y chromosome (Y-DNA) and mitochondrial (mtDNA). Y-DNA tests are used to confirm patrilineal ancestry, referring to the father’s line of descent, while mtDNA tests are used to confirm matrilineal ancestry, or the mother’s line of descent. According to the divided family registry managed by the Korean Red Cross, 77,751 of the 133,272 people who have registered since 1988 had died as of the end of February, leaving 55,521 still alive. The number of survivors has shrunk by 2,740 people since the end of February 2018, when the total stood at 58,261. By Lee Je-hun, senior staff writer Please direct comments or questions to [english@hani.co.kr]
