남북은 3년만의 첫 이산가족 상봉행사를 다음 달 25일부터 30일까지 금강산에서 개최하기로 23일 합의했다.
양측은 판문점 우리측 지역 평화의 집에서 추석 전후 이산가족 상봉행사 추진을 위한 적십자 실무접촉을 갖고 이러한 내용을 포함한 4개항의 합의서를 채택했다.
내달 남북 각각 100명의 이산가족이 참가하기로 했으며, 상봉의 방법과 형식은 관례에 따르기로 했다.
또한 남북은 11월 중 상봉 행사를 한 차례 더 진행하는 데 공감했으며, 이를 위해 추석 상봉 직후 추가 적십자 실무접촉을 갖기로 했다.
양측은 대면 상봉과 별도로 각 40가족이 참여하는 ‘화상 상봉’도 10월 22일부터 23일까지 열기로 했다.
이에 따라 2010년 10월 마지막으로 실시된 뒤 천안함•연평도 사태로 중단된 이산가족 상봉 행사가 3년만에 재개되게 됐다.
합의서에서 남북은 “이산가족 상봉 정례화, 생사확인, 서신교환 실시 등 이산가족 문제의 근본적 해결을 위해 계속 노력하기로 했다”고 명시했다.
남북은 추석 이산가족 상봉을 위해 오는 29일 생사확인을 의뢰할 200∼250명의 명단을 교환한 뒤 내달 13일 생사확인 결과가 담긴 회보서를, 16일에는 최종 명단을 각각 교환하기로 했다. 상봉 5일 전에는 금강산에 선발대를 파견할 예정이다.
우리 정부는 이밖에도 국군포로•납북자 문제 해결을 위한 생사•주소 확인 등을 북측에 제안했으나 합의서에 명시되지 못했다.
우리는 회담 장소로 서울 또는 평양을, 규모로 200명을 제시했지만 금강산과 최대규모 100명을 주장하는 북측의 입장을 수용했다. 대신 11월 추가 행사에 합의, 상봉 정례화를 위한 발판을 마련하는 효과를 거뒀다.
김형석 통일부 대변인은 “정부는 이번 합의를 박근혜 정부의 이산가족 문제 해결을 위한 과정의 시작으로 보고 있다”며 “이번 합의를 통해 이산가족 상봉 정레화를 위해 노력하는 계기를 마련한 것으로 본다”고 말했다.
정부 당국자는 추석 이산가족 상봉단에 국군포로와 납북자가 포함되느냐는 질문에 “과거 18차례 이산가족 상봉행사를 했던 관례에 따라서 이뤄진다”고 답해, 지금까지와 같이 100명 중 10%인 10명 정도가 국군포로 또는 납북자 이산가족 상봉에 할당될 것임을 암시했다.
이 당국자는 북측이 인도적 지원이나 금강산 관광 재개를 요청할 가능성이 제기된 것과 달리, “쌀 지원이나 수해지원은 전혀 언급이 없었고 금강산 관광 재개에 대한 이야기도 없었다“고 밝혔다. (코리아헤럴드 / 신현희 기자)
<관련 영문 기사>
Two Koreas to hold family reunions at Geumgang Sept. 25-30
By Shin Hyon-hee
The two Koreas agreed Friday to hold reunions of separated families at the North’s Mount Geumgangsan resort in late September in the latest sign of easing tensions on the peninsula.
During a meeting at the border village of Panmunjeom, Red Cross officials agreed that 100 people from each side would meet their loved ones from Sept. 25-30 in the program that had been suspended for nearly three years.
The two sides will also arrange a video meeting among 40 families from each side from Oct. 22-23 and tentatively agreed to push for an additional reunion event in November, Unification Ministry spokesman Kim Hyung-suk told reporters.
Previous gatherings were held at Mount Geumgangsan with about 100 participants from each side around national holidays including Chuseok, the Korean thanksgiving, which falls on Sept. 19 this year.
Seoul had demanded a sharp increase in the number and to hold the events alternatively in Seoul and Pyongyang. But it decided to accept the proposal by the North, which stuck to the previous format.
In a four-point joint statement they also agreed “to continue efforts to resolve the issue of separated families fundamentally by putting the program on a regular basis, verifying whether family members are alive or not, and arranging exchanges of letters between them.”
“The government sees this agreement as the beginning of the Park Geun-hye administration’s process to resolve the separated families issue,” a ministry official told reporters.
Seoul sought to raise the number of participants from each side to 200, or “as many as possible.” But it could not be carried through due to “capacity constraints,” the official said on condition of anonymity.
Seoul also failed in its attempt to reach an agreement to settle the issue of South Korean prisoners of war and abductees believed to remain in the North.
Spokesman Kim said South Korean delegates during the talks urged the North’s “forward-looking attitude” toward confirming their whereabouts and addresses.
The negotiation followed a last-minute agreement made one day earlier through the Panmunjeom communication channel. Pyongyang conceded to Seoul’s suggestion to meet at the Peace House on the South side of the border village, dropping its preference of Mount Geumgangsan.
Since 2000, the two countries have organized 18 face-to-face and seven video-link meetings for the families displaced by the 1950-53 Korean War. More than 4,320 families have been reunited so far.
The reunions were last held in October 2010 and halted in the wake of the communist country’s attacks on a South Korean corvette and border island in the West Sea earlier that year.
In the Aug. 15 Liberation Day address, President Park Geun-hye suggested resuming family gatherings and establishing a peace park inside the Demilitarized Zone.
The latest negotiations appeared to have kicked off in a congenial atmosphere, led by Lee Duck-hang, a senior official at the South Korean Red Cross, and Park Yong-il, a central committee member of the North Korean Red Cross.
Citing a relatively cool weather as a good signal, Lee said he hoped that the talks would yield “satisfying results for both sides.”
“Since inter-Korean dialogue began in the 1970s, Red Cross talks have always been at the forefront and produced the most achievements. In the current inter-Korean relations, Red Cross groups have lots of work to do,” he said upon the launch of the meeting.
Park, for his part, offered a positive outlook for the talks, referring to the two Koreas’ recent agreement on reopening the Gaeseong industrial park.
“I hope that our Red Cross working-level talks will be a crucial chance, as the North and South sat face to face in a long time and successfully hammered out an agreement for the normalization of the district and now concrete projects are in progress,” Park said.
According to the Unification Ministry, only 72,882 of the 128,842 South Koreans registered since 1988 remain alive as of July 31, meaning that some 2,000 have died each year.
Of the survivors, 9.3 percent were aged over 90, 40.5 percent were in their 80s, 30.6 percent in their 70s and 11.4 percent in their 60s.
(
heeshin@heraldcorp.com)
