Well, since the ROK has suspended further food/fertilizer aid to the DPRK in response to the current missle situation, the DPRK has suspended family reunions.
From the Joong Ang:
In a tit-for-tat reaction to Seoul’s decision to suspend rice and fertilizer aid, Pyongyang yesterday canceled a separated family reunion and said future ones were in jeopardy.
The Korea Central News Agency broadcast a letter from the North Korean Red Cross to its counterpart in Seoul. The letter said Seoul had refused to talk seriously about a family reunion the North had proposed be held during the Chuseok holidays in October. “Furthermore,” the letter continued, “the South refused to ship rice and fertilizer, one of the inter-Korean humanitarian projects that are conducted on the basis of reciprocity.” Pyongyang, the letter went on, sees no reason to continue family reunions.
“We want to make clear that the video conference call reunion, scheduled to mark August 15, and the construction of a reunion venue at Mount Kumgang will be terminated,” the letter concluded. The Japanese surrendered on Aug. 15, 1945, to end World War II. Both Koreas celebrate a Liberation Day holiday on that date. Although reunions have been held frequently at Mount Kumgang, the two Koreas had agreed to build a permanent reunion site there rather than using tourist hotels.
The Unification Ministry said it would do its best to restart the reunions. It said it anticipated that reaction by Pyongyang but regretted it.
And from the BBC:
The North accused the South of “sacrificing” humanitarian co-operation under pressure from Japan and the US.
Seoul announced the suspension of rice and fertiliser deliveries after inter-Korea talks collapsed last week.
The talks followed North Korea’s missile tests on 5 July, which have raised international concern.
Pyongyang test-fired seven missiles, including a long-range Taepodong-2 believed capable of reaching Alaska.
South Korea says it will not discuss further humanitarian aid with its neighbour until progress is made on resolving issues relating to the missile tests and the North’s nuclear ambitions.
After the high-level talks in Busan fell apart last week, the delegation from Pyongyang issued a statement warning of consequences for inter-Korean ties.
In the latest statement, North Korea’s Red Cross head Jang Jae-on accused the South of “abusing the humanitarian issue for meeting its sinister purpose to serve the outsiders”.
“Our side is, therefore, of the view that it has become impossible to hold any discussion related to humanitarian issues, to say nothing of arranging any reunion between separated families and relatives between the two sides,” he said.
A video reunion meeting scheduled for 15 August would not take place and the planned construction of a reunion centre in the North’s Mt Kumgang was “impossible”, he said.
The reunions bring together families divided by the partitioning of the Korean Peninsula in 1953. The policy has been a key part of reconciliation efforts between the two Koreas.
Earlier, South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun told a meeting of security advisers that Pyongyang’s missile tests were “wrong behaviour” that increased regional tensions.
But he warned against overreacting, saying: “An excessive response to North Korea’s missile tests creates unnecessary tensions and confrontation.”
On Tuesday, the Japanese government said it had begun work on its own set of sanctions for North Korea, in addition to those agreed by the UN Security Council.
The council unanimously passed a resolution on Saturday which condemned the missile launches, but it was softer than the draft initially proposed by Japan.
Japan would look into banning cash remittances to the North from Korean residents, Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe told reporters.
But on Wednesday, Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said he would not rush to impose more sanctions.
“We should wait and see for a while whether North Korea will seriously respond to the (UN) resolution,” he said.
