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.
Tens of thousands of 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 Monday's session.
It plans to choose 500 candidates at random by a computer later in the day before delivering the shortlist of 200 applicants to the North by July 3 for the confirmation of fates of their families.
The two Koreas are scheduled to exchange their final lists of participants on Aug. 4. (yonhap)