North Korea accepts Seoul's proposal to hold family reunion talks

North Korea on Thursday accepted Seoul's proposal to hold talks to arrange family reunions for people separated by the 1950-53 Korean War at the neutral border village of Panmunjom, Yonhap News Agency reported. The South Korean Unification Ministry said the North sent its acceptance through official communication channels earlier in the day, according to the report. The move will allow the two sides to meet Friday so they can work out details for family reunions to take place on or around the Chuseok holiday that falls on September 19 of this year, the report said. Chuseok is equivalent to Thanksgiving and is celebrated in both Koreas. There are some 73,000 people in South Korea alone who have requested to meet with their relatives in the North. The two Koreas arranged 18 family reunion meetings since 2000, with the last taking place in late 2010. Pyongyang also called for working-level talks to start as soon as possible on the resumption of tours to the Mount Kumgang resort that has been closed for five years. Seoul halted all tours after a North Korean guard shot and killed and a South Korean tourist in July 2008.