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S. Korea readies for reunions amid N. Korea’s rocket threats

September 19, 2015
Volunteers make phone calls to separated families in South Korea at the headquarters of South Korea's Red Cross in Seoul on Sept. 1, 2015, to see if they will agree to exchange a list of separated family members with North Korea. In a landmark deal, the two Koreas agreed last week to resume the much-anticipated reunions of families separated by the 1950-53 Korean War on the occasion of Korea's fall harvest holiday slated for September. (Yonhap)

Volunteers make phone calls to separated families in South Korea at the headquarters of South Korea’s Red Cross in Seoul on Sept. 1, 2015, to see if they will agree to exchange a list of separated family members with North Korea. (Yonhap)

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea is moving on with preparations for reunions of families separated by the 1950-53 Korean War despite rival North Korea talking about new rocket launches and nuclear tests.

South Korean officials have hinted they will try to proceed with planned Oct. 20-26 reunions at North Korea’s Diamond Mountain resort even if the North launches a satellite before then.

Analysts believe a dramatic provocation from the North could threaten the reunions as it would inevitably stoke military tensions on the divided peninsula.

A nuclear test or a satellite launch would violate U.N. resolutions, the latter because the rocket technology needed can also be used to develop long-range missiles.

The Koreas agreed to hold the reunions in an accord in August to ease animosities.