[USFK Forums] N. Korea grounds 99 South Koreans at separated family reunions [Yonhap]

[C. Y. Lee]

Uploaded by C. Y. Lee on Wednesday, March 22, 2006

N. Korea grounds 99 South Koreans at separated family reunions

2006/03/22 18:08

MOUNT GEUMGANG, North Korea, March 22 (Yonhap) -- South Korean families taking part in an ongoing round of family reunions at Mount Geumgang, North Korea, on Wednesday remained grounded in the communist state by officials there protesting an earlier media report by South Korean broadcasters.

The group of 99 South Koreans, mostly in their 80s or 90s, was blocked from departing the North Korean resort as scheduled at least until 4 p.m. after North Korean officials demanded a reporter from South Korean broadcaster SBS leave the country with the group.

The South Koreans' buses or any other types of transportation are unable to move or cross the heavily-armed inter-Korean border unless accompanied by a North Korean military vehicle, according to South Korean officials here.

The buses that were to transport the South Korean families back to South Korea from the communist state were originally scheduled to depart at 1 p.m.

The North's demand followed its officials' protests on Monday that earlier reports by two South Korean reporters, the other from MBC, disrespected their country's regime while falsely accusing it of a crime, and blocked the broadcasters from transmitting their reports from North Korea.

The reports, according to the journalists and the South Korean officials, were about the reunion between a South Korean woman and her 76-year-old husband who was described in the reports as being a former South Korean abducted by the communist state.

Cheon Moon-seok, the husband, is believed to have been seized in 1969 while aboard a fishing boat, according to the South Korean Unification Ministry.

He was one of three people or their families from the North at the latest round of separated family reunions, who were categorized by the Seoul government as "special participants.

The others included a North Korean son of a former South Korean prisoner from the 1950-53 Korean War who came to see his 74-year-old uncle from the South.

In an unprecedented move, the South Korean joint press corps here refused to report any of Tuesday's events, demanding the two reporters be allowed to finish their jobs in the communist state.

The MBC reporter was to be replaced by a colleague, who was to travel to the North Korean resort on Thursday along with a group of 436 South Korean families of 100 people in the North, but the North Korean officials demanded the SBS reporter also be replaced despite being scheduled to stay for the entire six-day event.

The North Korean officials are saying they will "let the buses depart only after the SBS reporter boards the vehicle," according to the South Korean officials.

An official at the South Korean Unification Ministry in Seoul said the government was looking for a sound solution, but said North Korea's demands were unacceptable.

"The government is firm that it cannot accept the North's demands. North Korean liaison officials asked to meet shortly after 3:30 p.m., so we will have to wait and see how that meeting turns out," the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

bdk@yna.co.kr

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