North and South Korea have agreed to hold temporary reunions of families divided by the 1950-53 Korean War as they boost reconciliation efforts amid a diplomatic push to resolve the North Korean nuclear crisis.
The reunions will take place at North Korea's Diamond Mountain resort from August 20 to 26, Seoul's Unification Ministry said after a nine-hour meeting between officials from the two sides.
It said the countries will each send 100 participants to the reunions. People with mobility problems will be allowed to bring a relative to help them.
Such temporary reunions are highly emotional as most wishing to take part are elderly people who are eager to see their loved ones before they die. The families were driven apart during the turmoil of the war.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in agreed during a summit in April to hold the family reunions about August 15, the anniversary of the Korean Peninsula's independence from Japanese colonial rule at the end of World War II in 1945.
South Korean Yoo Gi-jin, 93, fills out application forms to reunite with his family members who are living in North Korea. Source: AAP
Friday's talks between Red Cross officials from the countries at the Diamond Mountain resort were to arrange details of the reunions.
Kim and Moon met again in May.
Their two summits have opened various channels of peace talks between the countries.
The rivals recently agreed to restore cross-border military hotline communication channels and field joint teams in some events at the upcoming Asian Games in Indonesia.
The Koreas last held family reunions in 2015 before relations worsened because of North Korea's accelerated pursuit of nuclear long-range missiles and the hard-line response of Seoul's then-conservative government.
Since the end of the Korean War, both Koreas have banned ordinary citizens from visiting relatives on the other side of the border or contacting them without permission.
Nearly 20,000 Koreans have participated in 20 rounds of face-to-face temporary reunions held between the countries since 2000.
The limited numbers of reunions are vastly insufficient to meet the demands of aging relatives, who are mostly in their 80s and 90s, South Korean officials say.
According to Seoul's Unification Ministry, more than 75,000 of the 132,000 South Koreans who have applied to attend a reunion have died. None of the past participants has had a second reunion.
