As I have always said these family reunions were nothing more then adding an additional bargaining chip to North Korea’s hand to extract more concessions from the South Koreans, not that it took a genius to figure that out:

North Korea Wednesday demanded massive food aid from South Korea in return for concessions over a programme to reunite families separated by war six decades ago, a Seoul official said.

The demand for 500,000 tonnes of rice and 300,000 tonnes of fertiliser was made when the two sides met in the North’s city of Kaesong to discuss reunions, media pool reports from Kaesong quoted the official as saying.

A one-off meeting for families divided by the 1950-1953 war will start Saturday at the jointly run Mount Kumgang resort on the North’s east coast and will last six days.

It will link 100 people from each side with long-lost family members.

But Seoul wants to hold the emotional events nine times a year because many elderly people die before realising their dream of such a meeting.

“North Korean delegates linked the issue of separated families and the aid, indicating that they could make concessions if rice and fertiliser aid are given,” the unidentified official was quoted as saying.  [Associated Press]

You can read the rest at the link, but the South Koreans are likely to give the North aid of some kind to secure these reunions which have huge emotional significance in South Korea.