[USFK Forums] ICRC seeks greater role in North Korea, chief says [Reuters]

[C. Y. Lee]

[Uploaded by C. Y. Lee on Saturday, December 10, 2005]

ICRC seeks greater role in North Korea, chief says

09 Dec 2005 17:49:17 GMT

Source: Reuters

GENEVA, Dec 9 (Reuters) - The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said on Friday it would like to help reestablish links between families in the two Koreas and also visit detainees in the communist North.

But Jakob Kellenberger, ICRC President, also said that so far the only activity which Pyongyang had allowed it was an orthopaedic centre opened south of the capital three years ago to provide limbs for amputees. In July the humanitarian agency opened its Beijing regional delegation, which covers China, Mongolia, and North and South Korea on the peninsula divided since the 1950-53 Korean War.

"One activity we would clearly like to develop would be much more activity in the field of family reunification -- reestablishing family links and exchanges of messages between families," Kellenberger told an annual news conference.

The national Red Cross societies of South Korea and North Korea were actively engaged on family issues, but "much more could be done", according to the former senior Swiss diplomat.

Regarding the North, Kellenberger added: "I would certainly also like for us to be in a position to do detainee visits, but we cannot." Human rights groups charge the reclusive country with maintaining networks of prison camps and using public executions to intimidate the masses.
The ICRC visits more than 500,000 detainees worldwide in some 80 countries each year.

Its traditional family reunification activities take many forms, but it tries to be a conduit for families separated as a result of conflict to reestaablish contact and sometimes meet.