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Actor Jung Woo-sung admits to being father of model Moon Ga-bi’s child
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우리 정부는 16일, 이산가족 상봉 등을 해결하기 위한 적십자 실무접촉을 오는 23일 판문점 내 우리측 지역인 평화의 집에서 가질 것을 북한에 공식 제안했다.
남북간 접촉을 통해 논의될 내용은 추석을 전후한 남북 이산가족 상봉 등 인도주의적 내용이 주가 될 것으로 보인다.
이번 제안은 박근혜 대통령이 전날 광복절 경축사에서 “먼저 남북한 이산가족들 의 고통부터 덜어드렸으면 한다”며 “이번 추석을 전후로 남북한의 이산가족들이 상봉할 수 있도록 북한에서 마음의 문을 열어주기 바란다”고 밝힌데 이어 이뤄졌다.
남북한이 지난 14일, 개성 공단을 운영중단 133일만에 운영을 정상화하기로 합의한 데 이어 얼어붙은 남북관계를 개선하는 계기가 될 지 여부가 주목된다.
남북은 지난 2000년 이후 추석 등 주요 명절 전후로 해 이산가족 상봉을 추진해왔다,
이산가족 상봉이 마지막으로 이뤄진 것은 지난 2010년 10월이었으며, 이 해 초에 일어난 천안함 피격 사건 등으로 인해 중지되었다.
북한은 지난달 10일 이산가족 상봉을 위한 실무회담을 열자고 제안했으나, 정부 측에서 “개성공단 재개를 놓고 당국 간 회담을 하고 있기 때문에 그 문제가 먼저 진전이 있어야 한다”는 취지의 답변을 보내 논의가 중단된 바 있다.
그러나 이미 남북이 개성공단 정상화에 합의한 데다, 북한이 이전에 요청한 사항을 우리 측에서 공식적으로 제안한 만큼 이번에는 성사될 가능성이 크다.
북한은 개성공단 정상화를 위한 협상이 진행되고 있던 지난달 10일 이미 “이산가족 상봉을 위한 실무회담을 열자”고 제안한 적이 있다. 당시 류길재 통일부 장관이 “개성공단 재개를 놓고 당국 간 회담을 하고 있기 때문에 그 문제가 먼저 진전이 있어야 한다”는 취지의 답을 북한에 보내 논의가 중단됐지만 남북이 14일 개성공단 정상화에 합의한 데다 이미 북한이 요청했던 사항을 박 대통령이 다시 공개적으로 제안한 만큼 이제는 논의에 속도가 붙을 공산이 크다.
통일부에 따르면 1988년 이후 이산가족으로 등록된 12만 8천842명 중 현재 생존해 있는 인원은 7만2천882명에 불과하다. 생존자 중 9.3% 이상이 90세 이상이며, 40.5%가 80대, 그리고 30.6%는 70대이며, 60대 이상은 11.4%이다.
한편 대한적십자사는 16일 “수해로 북한에서 인적, 물적 피해가 발생한 만큼 인도주의적 차원에서 구호물자 구매에 필요한 10만 달러를 국제적십자연맹에 지원하기로 했다”고 밝혔다.
2012년 유니세프 조사에 따르면 북한의 5세 미만 어린이의 28%가 영양실조로 성장 발육이 저하돼 있으며 4%는 ‘극심한 영양실조’를 겪는 것으로 나타났다.
또한 유엔은 올해 남은 기간 북한에 대한 인도주의적 지원을 위해 9천800만 달러(1천96억원)를 긴급 요청했다. (코리아헤럴드)
<관련 영문 기사>
Seoul proposes talks on family reunions
By Shin Hyon-hee
South Korea on Friday proposed holding talks with the North next week to arrange the first reunions of separated families in nearly three years in September.
The offer delivered through the border communication channel was a follow-up to President Park Geun-hye’s Liberation Day address one day before, in which she suggested resuming family reunions and establishing a peace park inside the Demilitarized Zone.
On Wednesday, the two Koreas agreed to take steps to reactivate their factory complex in Gaeseong after a 133-day freeze, boosting the outlook for restarting stalled cross-border programs.
The ministry proposed Red Cross officials meet on Aug. 23 at the Peace House on the South’s side of Panmunjeom to “consult on humanitarian issues such as family reunions around Chuseok,” the Korean Thanksgiving that falls on Sept. 19 this year.
“We hope the North Korean side will positively respond to a Red Cross working-level contact to resolve the separated family issue which is a pure humanitarian matter,” the Red Cross said in a statement.
Since 2000, the two countries have arranged meetings for the families displaced by the Korean War chiefly around major holidays.
The gatherings were last held in October 2010 and halted in the wake of the North’s attacks on a South Korean corvette and border island in the West Sea earlier that year.
Pyongyang offered a new consultation to resume family reunions and Geumgang tours on July 10 but it called it off after Seoul only accepted the more urgent reunions to focus on the then ongoing negotiations over the industrial park.
According to the Unification Ministry, only 72,882 of the 128,842 South Koreans registered since 1988 remain alive as of July 31, meaning that some 2,000 have died each year
Of the survivors, 9.3 percent were aged over 90, 40.5 percent were in their 80s, 30.6 percent in their 70s and 11.4 percent in their 60s.
With the recent breakthrough in Gaeseong, the inert inter-Korean projects appear to be coming to life again. Seoul has been calling the factory zone a “touchstone” for cross-border exchanges and collaboration.
Humanitarian assistance is also gathering steam, prompted in part by torrential rains that pummeled the peninsula for nearly 50 days until last week.
The South’s Red Cross said Friday it has decided to provide $100,000 for relief supplies to the North at the request of its headquarters, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.
Last month, the Park administration allowed five civic groups to send aid to the impoverished neighbor, worth 1.47 billion won in total. It also plans to give the U.N. Children’s Fund $6.04 million for programs to help North Korean infants and pregnant women.
The president has vowed to continue humanitarian support for the North regardless of political circumstances, a key component of her “trust-building process” policy.
North Korea reported at least 46 were killed or missing and nearly 50,000 became homeless across the country due to the unusually-long rainy spell, according to the Geneva-based IFRC, the world’s largest humanitarian organization.
A 2012 UNICEF survey showed that more than one in four North Korean children under five suffer from stunted growth and 4 percent of them are acutely malnourished.
Despite chronic food shortages and healthcare deprivation there, local and multinational relief groups have been having difficulty in recent years as funds dried up amid tension and sanctions over Pyongyang’s nuclear program.
The U.N. said Thursday it is in “urgent need” of $98 million to fund emergency aid for North Korea, where some 2.4 million people need regular food handouts.
“While the overall humanitarian situation has improved slightly over the last 12 months, the structural causes of people’s vulnerability persist,” U.N. Resident Coordinator Ghulam Isaczai said in a statement.
“External assistance continues to play a vital role in safeguarding the lives of millions whose food security, nutritional status and essential health needs would otherwise be seriously compromised.”
(heeshin@heraldcorp.com)
Seoul proposes talks on family reunions
By Shin Hyon-hee
South Korea on Friday proposed holding talks with the North next week to arrange the first reunions of separated families in nearly three years in September.
The offer delivered through the border communication channel was a follow-up to President Park Geun-hye’s Liberation Day address one day before, in which she suggested resuming family reunions and establishing a peace park inside the Demilitarized Zone.
On Wednesday, the two Koreas agreed to take steps to reactivate their factory complex in Gaeseong after a 133-day freeze, boosting the outlook for restarting stalled cross-border programs.
The ministry proposed Red Cross officials meet on Aug. 23 at the Peace House on the South’s side of Panmunjeom to “consult on humanitarian issues such as family reunions around Chuseok,” the Korean Thanksgiving that falls on Sept. 19 this year.
“We hope the North Korean side will positively respond to a Red Cross working-level contact to resolve the separated family issue which is a pure humanitarian matter,” the Red Cross said in a statement.
Since 2000, the two countries have arranged meetings for the families displaced by the Korean War chiefly around major holidays.
The gatherings were last held in October 2010 and halted in the wake of the North’s attacks on a South Korean corvette and border island in the West Sea earlier that year.
Pyongyang offered a new consultation to resume family reunions and Geumgang tours on July 10 but it called it off after Seoul only accepted the more urgent reunions to focus on the then ongoing negotiations over the industrial park.
According to the Unification Ministry, only 72,882 of the 128,842 South Koreans registered since 1988 remain alive as of July 31, meaning that some 2,000 have died each year
Of the survivors, 9.3 percent were aged over 90, 40.5 percent were in their 80s, 30.6 percent in their 70s and 11.4 percent in their 60s.
With the recent breakthrough in Gaeseong, the inert inter-Korean projects appear to be coming to life again. Seoul has been calling the factory zone a “touchstone” for cross-border exchanges and collaboration.
Humanitarian assistance is also gathering steam, prompted in part by torrential rains that pummeled the peninsula for nearly 50 days until last week.
The South’s Red Cross said Friday it has decided to provide $100,000 for relief supplies to the North at the request of its headquarters, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.
Last month, the Park administration allowed five civic groups to send aid to the impoverished neighbor, worth 1.47 billion won in total. It also plans to give the U.N. Children’s Fund $6.04 million for programs to help North Korean infants and pregnant women.
The president has vowed to continue humanitarian support for the North regardless of political circumstances, a key component of her “trust-building process” policy.
North Korea reported at least 46 were killed or missing and nearly 50,000 became homeless across the country due to the unusually-long rainy spell, according to the Geneva-based IFRC, the world’s largest humanitarian organization.
A 2012 UNICEF survey showed that more than one in four North Korean children under five suffer from stunted growth and 4 percent of them are acutely malnourished.
Despite chronic food shortages and healthcare deprivation there, local and multinational relief groups have been having difficulty in recent years as funds dried up amid tension and sanctions over Pyongyang’s nuclear program.
The U.N. said Thursday it is in “urgent need” of $98 million to fund emergency aid for North Korea, where some 2.4 million people need regular food handouts.
“While the overall humanitarian situation has improved slightly over the last 12 months, the structural causes of people’s vulnerability persist,” U.N. Resident Coordinator Ghulam Isaczai said in a statement.
“External assistance continues to play a vital role in safeguarding the lives of millions whose food security, nutritional status and essential health needs would otherwise be seriously compromised.”
(heeshin@heraldcorp.com)
