SEOUL, Aug. 25 (UPI) -- South and North Korea Tuesday planned procedures for family reunions ahead of their talks in North Korea's Mount Kumgang resort, Seoul officials said.
The three-day meeting starting Wednesday will include plans for a new round of reunions for families separated since the 1950-53 Korean War, the officials said, Yonhap news agency reported. It will be the first such dialogue in two years.
The two countries have already normalized their direct Red Cross communications link, which was suspended last November because of the North's objections to what it sees as the hard line policy of South Korean government of President Lee Myung-bak's government.
"We will discuss procedures with the North so that the talks can start tomorrow as planned," Unification Ministry spokesman Chun Hae-sung told reporters.
Yonhap reported the talks are a follow up to North Korean leader Kim Jong Il's agreement to resume the reunions and hold the first of the new round on Oct. 3.
The talks will determine the number of families that will participate in the reunions to be arranged by the Red Cross. About 600,000 South Koreans are estimated to have relatives in the North.
