North–South Red Cross Talks
Also called: Inter-Korean Red Cross Talks
A Korean Red Cross proposal to trace separated families opened the first inter-Korean dialogue since division, with preliminary talks at Panmunjom and full talks in Pyongyang and Seoul.
SSGT STEVE FAULISI · Public domain · Source
As the Cold War eased with the US–China rapprochement, on 12 August 1971 Choi Doo-sun, president of the Korean Red Cross, proposed to the North a campaign to find families scattered across the division. The North Korean Red Cross accepted two days later, and on 20 August envoys of the two sides met at Panmunjom — the first time the two sides had sat down together since division.
Preliminary talks at Panmunjom from 20 September set up a permanent liaison office and a direct telephone line, and the first full-dress talks were held in Pyongyang on 30 August 1972, followed by a second round in Seoul in September. Secret contacts in the meantime produced the July 4 Joint Statement. But the two sides clashed over how to confirm the addresses and fate of separated family members, the talks stalled after 1973, and only when they resumed in 1985 did the first hometown visits take place.