calendar>>April 22. 2011 Juch 100

Early Inter-Korean Red Cross Contact Once Again Urged

Pyongyang, April 22 (KCNA) -- The chairman of the C.C., the DPRK Red Cross Society on Friday sent another notice to his south Korean counterpart, urging north-south Red Cross working contact to discuss the matter of face-to-face confirmation of the will of the four inhabitants of the DPRK detained by the south Korean authorities, and their repatriation.

The DPRK repeatedly made the above-said demand on March 30 and April 1, but the south side has not responded to it so far, the notice pointed out, once again strongly urging the south side to have a Red Cross working contact to solve the issue as early as possible.

If the south Korean authorities do not meet this demand of the DPRK and persistently refuse to send back the inhabitants to it, this will be little short of admitting themselves their abduction and operations to force them to "defect" to the south, it said, warning that they would be held wholly accountable for their grave impact on the north-south relations.