UN grants sanctions exemption for video reunions of separated families
2024-09-20 19:43:28
People ride on a trolley bus in downtown Pyongyang, North Korea, Thursday, March 7, 2019. AP-Yonhap
The United Nations Security Council granted a sanctions waiver Friday for the shipment of equipment to North Korea for video reunions between families separated by the 1950-53 Korean War, according to diplomatic sources.
The U.N. sanctions committee on North Korea approved South Korea's request to permit relevant equipment to be sent to the North for the video reunions on humanitarian grounds.
The equipment includes cameras and video conferencing equipment.
President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un agreed at their third summit in Pyongyang in September last year to make efforts to allow separated families to hold video reunions and exchange video messages.
Video conferencing rooms in South and North Korea need repairs as they had not been used since the last reunions in 2007. Adopted in 2005, the video-based reunions have been held seven times.
The separated families issue is one of the most pressing humanitarian matters for the Koreas as more aging Koreans have passed away without a chance to meet their relatives from across the border.
The Koreas remain technically at war as the Korean War ended in an armistice, not a peace treaty. (Yonhap)
