North and South Korea agreed Friday to hold a new round of reunions for family members separated by the Korean War, the first such arrangement in three years and the latest sign of a thaw between the fractious neighbors.
After a daylong meeting at the border truce village of Panmunjom, the two sides said they will hold the reunions at a resort in the North's Mount Kumgang region between Sept. 25-30.
Their agreement restarts what is perhaps the peninsula's most important humanitarian program, allowing brief but emotional get-togethers for relatives who live on opposite sides of the heavily militarized border. Officials in Seoul have said the reunions are particularly urgent, given that most of the separated family members are in their 70s and 80s. As part of Friday's agreement, the two countries also said they will hold meet-ups in October by video teleconference, a more suitable method for those too frail to travel.