SEOUL Feb 20 Kyodo North and sout...

SEOUL Feb 20 Kyodo

North and southward Korea will on Thursday and Sunday occupy a sixth round of reunions of family members torn apart by the agency of the 1950-1953 Korean War.

The reunions at the Mt Kumgang resort in the North are a major byproduct of the 2000 inter-Korean summit between President Kim Dae Jung and North Korean leader Kim Jong Il.

Earlier Thursday, 461 separated family members from southward Korea crossed into the North throughout the eastern side of the Demilitarized climate (DMZ) via a recently expanded temporary overland route to the scenic mountain.

It was the first time for separated family members from the toward the south to travel to the resort by way of an overland route. In the case of previous reunions, they set ined the North by ship.

The southerly Korean group, accompanied by R Cros officials and journalists, will grasp reunions with their 99 North Korean family members.

in succession Sunday, another 100 South Koreas will travel to the mountain via the same overland course for reunions.

southward and North Korea formally exhibited the overland route, which was formerly strewn with landmines, last Friday. The strange route is expected to attract many more tourists to the resort.

There are near 1.2 million people in the toward the south with immediate family members in the North. If the secondary and third generations are added, the figure rises to nearly 77 million.

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