South Korea urges North to accept family reunion offer

South Korea pressed North Korea Friday to accept its offer of holding reunions of families separated after the Korean War, calling it a first step toward improving inter-Korean relations, Yonhap News Agency reported. "We urge North Korea to show a sincere attitude toward our offer," unification ministry spokesman Kim Eui-do told reporters. The comment came a day after North Korea rejected South Korea's proposal to hold family reunions around the Lunar New Year later this month, citing South Korea's annual joint military exercises with the United States. North Korea claims joint military exercises are a rehearsal for a nuclear war against the North. Seoul and Washington say they are defensive in nature. Still, the North indicated that family reunions may take place in "a good season," as it made a thinly veiled request to halt joint military maneuvers and to hold talks on resuming a suspended tour program to Mount Kumgang, a scenic mountain resort on North Korea's east coast. South Korea suspended the tours to the mountain resort following the shooting death of a South Korean tourist by a North Korean guard in 2008. North Korea has since repeatedly called for the resumption of the tour program, which served as one of a few legitimate revenue sources for the cash-strapped country. Kim said that the tour program to the North's mountain resort could be discussed separately from the issue of family reunions, though he did not give a specific timeframe.