Anchor: South Korea has proposed inter-Korean Red Cross talks to discuss reunions of separated families and other humanitarian issues. Our Jang Souie has the details.

Report: The South Korean Red Cross proposed to the North Korean Red Cross that the two sides meet to discuss the issue of separated families.

Director Yoo Choong-geun of the South's Red Cross said in a news conference that it made the proposal for the inter-Korean Red Cross talks in a telephone message at the truce village of Panmunjeom on Tuesday morning. She said she hopes the two sides will agree to hold temporary reunions of separated families, find fundamental solutions to the issue and discuss other humanitarian issues. She said she expects a positive response from the North.

The South Korean Red Cross said it wants to hold talks next Monday in Musan or Gaeseong in the North. Yoo expressed hope that the two sides will hold familiy reunions in spring.

The proposal for the working-level Red Cross talks is seen as part of the South Korean government’s efforts to establish dialogue channels with the North.

If the two sides meet, they are first and foremost expected to talk about holding regular reunions for separated families. Attention is also focused on whether the Red Cross talks, if realized, will lead to further inter-Korean talks on a range of other pending issues. Among them are the North’s sinking of the South’s Cheonan warship, shelling of Yeonpyong Island, and the resumption of South Korean tours to the North’s Mount Geumgang resort.

Under the Lee Myung-bak administration, there have been only two rounds of inter-Korean family reunions: one in September 2009 and the other in late 2010.

The two Koreas had discussed holding family reunions on a regular basis during a Red Cross meeting in October 2010, but failed to narrow their differences. They agreed to hold the next Red Cross meeting in the following month, but the talks never happened due to the shelling of Yeongpyong Island.

Jang Souie, KBS World Radio News.