|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 | Editions | myCNN | Video | Audio | Headline News Brief | Feedback | |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|  |
Talk of family reunions follows Korean summit
SEOUL, South Korea (CNN) -- Tens of thousands of South Koreans are coping with mixed emotions to the news they may soon be reunited with family members in Communist North Korea -- after decades of separation. They have been talking about reunions since this week's historic inter-Korean summit concluded. Many who escaped from North Korea during the 1950-53 Korean War have yet to find out what has become of their loved ones. More than 2,000 South Koreans applied this week through Red Cross registration offices for reunions. An estimated 1.2 million North Korean refugees are living in South Korea.
The first reunions, under an agreement signed Wednesday by North and South Korean leaders, are expected to occur around August 15, when the nations commemorate their liberation from Japanese occupation at the end of World War II. "I think my chances are about 50-50. If I'm lucky, maybe I'll be on that first trip to the North," Shim Myung-Shik told CNN. He wants to know if his brother and parents are alive. On Friday, Myung Shi-chung, 71, broke down and cried as he left the registration office. His hand was trembling and his shoulders were shaking as he tried to light a cigarette. "I gave up on the idea of seeing my brother again years ago," he said. "But the summit talks changed my mind." Myung carefully wrote down everything that he knew about the 8-year-old brother he left behind in North Korea in 1948. Then he glued his photograph to the application, officially registering his family as one of the thousands divided by the North-South border. It was not immediately known how many people would be included in the first reunion. South Korean President Kim Dae-jung, who signed the accord with North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, said the millions of affected people would be reunited gradually with their families. "The first batch of visitors will be considerable, as agreed between the two sides," Kim Dae-jung said. Koreas pass first post-summit testNorth and South Korea signed the historic agreement late Wednesday committing their nations to allow the family reunions, to work toward eventual reunification and to improve economic cooperation. Kim Dae-jung was the first South Korean leader to visit the Communist North Korea. The nations had planned to hold a summit in the early 1990s, but then North Korean leader Kim Il Sung died weeks before the meeting. On Friday, the Koreas appeared to pass the first test of their new found cooperation when a South Korean fishing boat returned to southern waters after crossing the nations' disputed demarcation line on the Yellow River. The boat, with two crewmembers, had been missing since Thursday, the summit's final day. Other details were not readily available. Meanwhile, Kim Dae-jung basked in applause and acclaim from world leaders who commended the Koreas on their commitment to work toward reunification and to improve economic cooperation. Meeting removes 'hermit' imageThe summit was a vindication of Kim Dae-jung's "sunshine policy" of engaging North Korea. He received a commitment from Kim Jong Il to visit Seoul for a reciprocal summit at an unspecified date. The meeting also helped transform Kim Jong Il's image from a reclusive leader -- he joked during the summit about his image as a "hermit" -- to a statesman. He has long been considered a dangerous, secretive backer of terrorism. "Kim Jong Il comes out a winner, a leader who is able to deal with his nemesis. He is in full control. He is able to tell the world he is not a hermit," said Lee Chong-min of Yonsei University. During the summit, Kim Jong Il asked the South Korean president questions about Pope John Paul II, and then expressed a willingness to have the pope visit North Korea. "(Kim Jong Il) inquired about the pope's age and then said 'Let him come and visit'," Kim Dae-jung told a meeting of his Cabinet on Friday. Seoul Bureau Chief Sohn Jie-Ae, Tokyo Bureau Chief Marina Kamimura, Beijing Bureau Chief Rebecca MacKinnon, Correspondent Mike Chinoy, State Department Correspondent Andrea Koppel, The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
RELATED STORIES: South Korean president hails pact with North as starting point RELATED SITES: North Korea: Politics and Government | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Back to the top |
© 2001 Cable News Network. All Rights Reserved. Terms under which this service is provided to you. Read our privacy guidelines. |
![[CNN Money]](http://i.cnn.net/cnn/images/main/fn.logo.newsnet.gif){kind=logo}
![[SI.com]](http://i.cnn.net/cnn/images/main/si.logo.gif){kind=logo}
(
While lauding the summit, some Chinese see parallels with Taiwan, as CNN's Rebecca MacKinnon explains.
CNN's Mike Chinoy shows the celebrations in South Korea after the summit.
Japan has given the summit the highest praise, as CNN's Marina Kamimura reports.
