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Date : January 7, 2014
President Park Calls for Family Reunions
   http://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2014/01/07/2014010701090. [771]
On Monday President Park Geun-hye proposed a fresh round of reunions for families separated by the Korean War. The reunions would take place on the Lunar New Year, which falls on January 31st, 2014. President Park made the appeal to North Korea during her first press conference as president, in which she pressed for an end to inter-Korean confrontation and an era of national unification. She stated, "I hope that the North will get off on the right foot by making the family reunions possible and giving fresh momentum to inter-Korean relations." Last August, the two Koreas agreed to hold reunions on Chuseok, the Korean equivalent of Thanksgiving, but North Korea unilaterally cancelled the event with four days to go.

President Park mentioned several steps South Korea should take to lay the foundation for reunification in the press conference. First, she called for increased international cooperation to pressure North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapons program. After ending its nuclear weapons program, President Park indicated that South Korea would increase humanitarian aid. She also stated plans to increase international support for Korean reunification and said she is willing to meet Kim Jong Eun at any time but such a meeting would not be, Talks for talks sake. 


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