UN Secretary-General Welcomes Inter-Korean Family Reunion Meeting - Statement

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 21st August, 2018) UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres welcomed on Monday the meeting of previously separated North and South Korean families.

On Monday, a group of 89 South Korean citizens and over 300 accompanying persons left for North Korea to meet their relatives. They initially arrived at the demilitarized zone on the border between the two countries and after that left for the Mount Kumgang resort on North Korea's eastern coast.

"The Secretary-General welcomes the holding of an inter-Korean family reunion event that began today and is set to last until 26 August. He hopes that such reunion events will become routine and include many more people, including affected Koreans worldwide, allow participants to meet privately, and to remain in contact after the meetings," the secretary-general's spokesman Stephane Dujarric said in a statement.

Reunion meetings for people separated since the 1950-1953 Korean War have been held since mid-1980s. The previous event was organized in October 2015, while the decision to conduct the ongoing one was made during the April 27 meeting between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in.

The situation on the Korean peninsula has significantly improved over the last several months, with North Korean leader Kim having held two rounds of talks with South Korea's Moon and a top-level summit with US President Donald Trump in Singapore.