The two Koreas on Wednesday exchanged their lists of families to be reunited starting next week in the North after being separated for six decades, completing a major step toward the first such event in a year, an official said.
The lists, containing the names of 100 people from each side, were exchanged at a checkpoint in the North Korean border town of Kaesong between the Red Cross officials of the two countries, Unification Ministry spokeswoman Lee Jong-joo said in a briefing.
A group of 26 civilians also crossed the heavily armed border into the North to tidy up facilities at the Mount Kumgang resort on the east coast where the reunions will be held, she said.
The oldest South Korean to participate in the event is a 97-year-old woman who will meet with her daughter, she added.
The reunions come amid looming signs that tension between the divided countries, technically in a state of war after a truce ended their 1950-53 conflict, may be easing after it spiked to the highest level in years over the March 26 sinking of a South Korean warship.
South Korea has implemented an array of measures aimed at punishing the North since a multinational investigation found the communist country responsible for the sinking that killed 46 sailors. The North denies any involvement.