South Korea picks candidates for reunions with North Korean families

South Korea began a process Monday to select those who will meet their long-separated family members in North Korea in late August.

The two Koreas agreed to hold their first family reunion event in nearly three years at the North's Mount Kumgang resort from Aug. 20-26, a follow-up to the April 27 summit deal.

It would enable 100 South Korean people, mostly elderly ones, to get together with their families across the border, decades after being separated by the 1950-53 Korean War.

More than 57,000 South Koreans are registered with the country's Red Cross as hopeful participants in such family reunions.

The humanitarian agency set the criteria for successful applications in an eight-member committee session.

It chose 500 candidates at random using a computer and plans to deliver the shortlist of 250 applicants to the North by July 3 for the confirmation of fates of their families.

Conditions considered include age, family background and if an applicant is healthy enough for days of cross-border travel.

The two Koreas are scheduled to exchange their final lists of participants on Aug. 4. (Yonhap)