Investing for peace with North, Seoul offers almost US$ 3 million for inter-Korean projects

Most of the money will be used for family reunions. The remaining will go to open a joint liaison office in the North's border town of Kaesong. This will implement the agreement reached during inter-Korean summit in April.

Seoul (AsiaNews/Agencies) – South Korea will provide support in covering the costs linked to reunions of war-separated families and to the opening of a joint liaison office, The Unification Ministry said today.

The government recently held panel meetings and endorsed offering about 3.3 billion won (US$ 2.93 million) to cover costs for the inter-Korean projects. The money will be secured by tapping into a fund that the government established in 1991 to facilitate inter-Korean exchanges.

The two projects are being pushed in line with the agreement reached during inter-Korean summit in April.

On one hand, the two sides are making preparations to hold reunions of families separated by the 1950-53 Korean War at the North's Mount Kumgang resort on 20-26 August. On the other, the two Koreas have also been working to open a joint liaison office in the North's border town of Kaesong.

Ministry spokesman Baik Tae-hyun told a regular press briefing that about two thirds of the money will be used for the reunion event, whilst the remainder will be spent mostly on repairing relevant facilities.