Hometown Visits by Separated Families

For the first time since division, groups of separated family members and performing artists from South and North visited Seoul and Pyongyang.

When severe floods hit the South in 1984, the North Korean Red Cross offered relief goods such as rice, cloth and cement, and the South accepted. This revived the stalled Red Cross and economic talks between the two Koreas.

In September 1985 fifty hometown visitors from each side travelled to Seoul and Pyongyang, some meeting their families, and troupes of performing artists gave shows in each capital. The exchange was not repeated, and family reunions resumed only after the June 15th Joint Declaration of 2000.