An advance team of South Korean officials arrived in North Korea on Saturday to help arrange upcoming reunions of separated families, the South Korean Red Cross said.
The visit came a day after the two Koreas agreed in a rare high-level meeting to hold the reunions as scheduled despite a dispute over upcoming U.S.-South Korean military drills.
The 15-member team, including South Korean Red Cross officials, crossed the border by car into the North at noon to visit Mount Geumgang, a scenic resort on the North's east coast, where the family reunions will be held from Feb. 20-25, according to the Red Cross.
They will exchange lists of participants in the reunions and discuss details of the event with North Korean officials there, it said.
"We'll do our best to prepare for the reunions so they can go as planned," Park Geuk, a member of the advance team, told reporters before heading for North Korea.
During the reunions, a total of 84 South Koreans and 88 North Koreans are scheduled to meet their family members who have been separated since the 1950-53 Korean War. (Yonhap)
