S. Korea mulls incentives for N. Korea to resume family reunions: official

South Korea's Park Geun-hye administration is willing to provide North Korea with appropriate incentives if needed for the reunion of separated families, a senior government official said Sunday.

   The official stressed it is a "very important issue associated with the government's responsibility." The majority of people with families on the other side of the heavily-fortified border due to the 1950-53 Korean War are now in their 80s or 90s.

   "If we fail to resolve the problem, it means the government is not carrying out its duties. It's an international shame," he said as he spoke about the Park administration's approach toward Pyongyang. "I think the government will actively consider incentives for North Korea if necessary."

   He did not elaborate on what Seoul can offer, instead saying all pending inter-Korean matters can be discussed in a comprehensive way.

   Meanwhile, the two Koreas held their last family reunion event in February, the first in three years. The conservative Park administration reportedly did not give the North any economic reward for it.

   In the 2000s, however, the South's liberal governments offered rice and fertilizer aid to the North apparently in return for occasional days-long family reunion events.

   It's important for the North to return to the negotiating table, he added.

   Observers agree that the South is eager to create conditions for lifting a set of bilateral sanctions on the communist neighbor.

   Imposed after the North's 2010 deadly attack on a South Korean warship, the Cheonan, the so-called May 24th Measure has put all inter-Korean economic projects on hold except for the Kaesong Industrial Complex.

   The South also views the sanctions as a key obstacle to efforts to improve its relations with the North, although it maintains the basic stance that Pyongyang should first acknowledge its responsibility for the Cheonan sinking and offer an apology.

   "Basically, the South and the North have mutual mistrust," the official said. "It's because of a lack of dialogue, with the Park Geun-hye administration entering its third year in power." (Yonhap)