by Christine Kim
North Korea announced on Thursday that it might allow a temporary union between its people and their Korean American relatives whom they have not seen since the Korean War. Although a formal agreement has not been reached yet, the United States has not objected to this proposal by American officials.
Last week North Korea agreed to allow 10 Korean Americans exchange letters with family members in the northern region. Now, with this new possibility, a Foreign Ministry spokesman in Pyongyang hopes that cooperation on both sides will rebuild the trust that is necessary to resolve issues such as those regarding North Korea’s nuclear weapons program.
“The United States would welcome efforts to reconnect Korean-Americans separated from their family members in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) since the end of the Korean War,” a spokesperson for the U.S. Dept. of State said in a statement.
However, there is no such thing as a free lunch. Yonhap News predicted that the communist country will permit the reunion only in exchange for humanitarian food aid from the United States.
Whether the aging Korean Americans will have the chance to see their loved ones for the first time in 50 years before it’s too late remains uncertain as the U.S. and North Korea still maintain hostile relations.
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