DPRK demands lifting of S Korea's sanctions for family reunion

The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) on Friday demanded the lifting of sanctions imposed by South Korea to hold reunion of families separated by the 1950-53 Korean War, the official KCNA news agency reported.

May 24 sanctions pose a man-made obstacle to all exchanges including materials and people-to-people exchange between the DPRK and South Korea, said an unnamed spokesman for the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea (CPRK).

If South Korean authorities truly intend to promote reunion of the separated families due to humanitarian concerns, they should in the first place remove the May 24 measures, the spokesman said.

The serious reality today is that there would be no possibility for inter-Korean dialogue, contact or exchange if the issue regarding May 24 sanctions against Pyongyang was not properly handled, he noted.

The spokesman also stressed that it has been the consistent stance of the DPRK to relieve the pain of the separated families caused by division of the nation at earliest time possible.

If Seoul has the willingness to improve north-south relations and hold family reunions for those separated by the Korean War, it should clarify its stance by taking actions, he said.

Park said in her New Year's press conference on Jan. 12 that the two Koreas should open a door of unification together by discussing various issues, including the "fundamental resolution" of Korean families separated during the 1950-53 Korean War.

Given the old age of those separated families, the reunion issue can not be delayed, Park said, asking the DPRK to be open-minded in talking about the holding of the reunion event around the Lunar New Year's holiday that falls in mid-February this year.

May 24 sanctions were imposed by South Korea on Pyongyang in 2010 when the South Korean Navy corvette Cheonan sank in waters near the disputed western sea border.