South and North Korea are at odds over lodging arrangements for families planning to visit the Mount Kumgang resort during the upcoming family reunions event, the government said Thursday.
The reunions of families separated by the 1950-53 Korean War was agreed upon at talks held on Aug. 23, with 100 people from each side to meet long-lost relatives on Sept. 25-30. The gathering marks the first time in nearly three years that people will be able to meet loved ones they have not seen in six decades.
The upcoming event had been called for by South Korean President Park Geun-hye following the agreement by the two Koreas to reopen the shuttered inter-Korean factory park in Gaeseong.
"Seoul following precedence asked for the use of the Kumgangsan Hotel and the Mount Kumgang Hotel on Tuesday, but the North suggested that families stay at the Kumgang Beach Hotel and the workers' dormitory for Hyundai Asan Corp.," a unification ministry official said. The communist country said Kumgangsan was booked during the time of the reunion event.
The official, who declined to be identified, said the North's response came Wednesday and Seoul immediately expressed regrets.
"We called on the North to allow South Korean visitors to stay at the two hotels designated earlier as had been the case in reunions that took place in 2009 and 2010," he said. The official pointed out that the floating Kumgang Beach Hotel had not been used, repaired or even inspected in five years, while the dormitory is much too small to accommodate everyone who is planning to make the trip.
Sources at the ministry said unless the lodging issue is resolved soon, the family reunions that kick off in 20 days may be affected.
"There is much speculation as to why the North is being uncooperative, but Seoul's stance is to resolve all outstanding issues as quickly as possible so reunions can take place on time without a hitch," he said.
Some outside experts, meanwhile, claimed that the North may be upset that Seoul called for talks aimed at resuming tours to the Mount Kumgang resort on Oct. 2, instead of in late August and early Sept. as proposed by Pyongyang. Tours that began in 1998 were halted after a North Korean guard shot dead a South Korean tourist in July 2008.
Before the upcoming reunions, the two Koreas held 18 such meetings from 2000 onwards, allowing 3,829 families to meet in person and 557 via video link. (Yonhap News)
