NKOREA AGREES TO REUNIONS OF WAR-DIVIDED FAMILIES
Source: AP
North Korea on Friday agreed to resume reunions of families separated by the 1950-53 Korean War, the latest in a series of conciliatory gestures from a country that was threatening South Korea and the U.S. with nuclear war almost a year ago.
Seoul welcomed the decision, which came on the heels of an offer rejected earlier to hold the emotional reunions for the first time in more than three years. South Korea has so far been wary of the North's larger outreach, noting that Pyongyang has previously followed such calls for detente with provocations.
The gesture is seen by many analysts as an attempt to improve ties to help win aid for Pyongyang's struggling economy. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has vowed to boost his impoverished people's standard of living, even as he pursues a nuclear weapons and missile program that has been condemned by his neighbors and the United States.
Seoul's Unification Ministry, which is responsible for cross-border relations, said in a statement that Pyongyang proposed holding the reunions sometime after next week's Lunar New Year's Day and said that the South could choose the date.
Read more: http://bigstory.ap.org/article/nkorea-agrees-reunions-war-divided-families
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