Construction will begin Wednesday on a family reunion center in North Korea's Mount Geumgang and is slated for completion in April 2007.

The 12-story center will have one underground level and a floor area of 19,835 square meters over 50,000 square meters of land in Onjeong-ri on the North's side of Gangwon Province.

The facility has meeting rooms for reuniting families, offices, conference halls, observatory and employee residences.

The two Koreas have held regular working-level meetings since they agreed to establish a permanent venue during the first inter-Korean Red Cross talks in June 2000.

During the fifth Red Cross talks in 2003, Seoul and Pyongyang signed an agreement to build Mount Geumgang Reunion Center.

The North will provide labor, resources and design consulting and the South will pay for and handle construction and manage the center upon completion.