DATE=8/15/2000 TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT TITLE=KOREAS REUNION (L) NUMBER=2-265466 BYLINE=AMY BICKERS DATELINE=SEOUL CONTENT= VOICED AT: INTRO: A plane carrying 100 North Koreans arrived in Seoul Tuesday for a four-day reunion of long-lost relatives separated by the Korean War. As V-O-A's Amy Bickers reports from Seoul, 100 South Koreans are also being reunited with relatives in North Korea. TEXT: Hundreds of separated parents and children, husbands and wives and brothers and sisters are embracing for the first time in half a century. The North Korean government chose 100 citizens to go to Seoul to meet with their kin, while 100 South Koreans were picked by computer lottery to go North. They are only a tiny fraction of the millions of people who were separated by the Korean War, in the early 1950's. Because there is no civilian mail or telephone service between the two nations, reunion participants have little idea of how their loved ones have fared over the years. The reunion is the result of the accord reached by South Korean President Kim Dae-jung and North Korea's Kim Jong Il during their June summit. The North Korean leader said Saturday there will be more reunions in September and October. The Seoul government has briefed South Koreans traveling north, telling them to avoid discussing politics when in Pyongyang. South Koreans meeting their Northern relatives in Seoul have been warned not to stare at badges typically worn by North Koreans, depicting leader Kim Jong Il and comparing the two countries' political systems. (SIGNED) NEB/HK/AB/GC/WD 14-Aug-2000 23:33 PM LOC (15-Aug-2000 0333 UTC) NNNN Source: Voice of America .
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