Koreas extend talks on family reunions

Tens of thousands of Korean families have been divided for almost five decades

SEOUL, South Korea -- Officials from North and South Korea have agreed to extend talks by one day in an effort to hammer out an agreement on reunions of families divided since the end of the Korean War.

The weekend talks held in the North Korean resort of Mount Kumgang have stumbled over what Pyongyang refers to as a "warlike situation" in the South following the September 11 attacks in the U.S.

Since the attacks Seoul has put its armed forces on a heightened state of alert -- a move Pyongyang says is directed against the North.

South Korea has insisted the alert is purely to defend against any possible terrorist threat to the 37,000 U.S. troops stationed on its territory and is not a threat to its neighbor.

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Pyongyang has rejected that explanation as a "poor" excuse and abruptly cancelled a series of family reunions scheduled to take place in the South in mid-October.

Over the weekend officials from both sides agreed to reschedule the reunions for later this month or December at the latest but failed to agree on a venue or other details, reports from South Korean journalists monitoring the talks said.

Venue in question

Pyongyang is reported to have insisted the next reunions take place at Mount Kumgang. All previous reunions have been held in either Seoul or Pyongyang.

Furthermore North Korean officials are continuing to demand that Seoul lift its state of alert.

For its part South Korea is pushing for a speedy renewal of economic talks between the two sides and a revival of discussions on the stalled Korean peace process with a ministerial-level meeting in Seoul in December.

One key bargaining chip it holds is the issue of food aid to the North which has been suffering from widespread famine and power shortages for several years.

Last week, before departing Seoul for the talks, chief South Korean delegate Hong Soon-young said his side was willing to donate 300,000 tons of rice on condition that the North agreed to go ahead with reunions.

Bitter legacy

Power failures have meant some talks between North and South Korean officials have had to be conducted by candle light

The issue of Korea's divided families is one of the bitterest legacies of the Korean War, which ended in 1953.

Tens of thousands of people on either side of the border have not seen or heard from close relatives in almost 50 years.

The landmark Inter-Korean Summit of 2000 raised hopes that a thaw in relations could pave the way for increased reunions, but the process has become bogged down in a series disputes.

As time moves on the issue becomes increasing pressing because most of the family members involved are very old.

According to the Associated Press over the past year more than 12,000 elderly South Koreans who had applied for reunions have died.