Skorean President's Ratings Up After Nkorean Deal

South Korea stepped up its drive for improved relations with North Korea Monday, as President Park Geun-hye's approval rating saw a leap by more than eight percentage points to a new high for 2015.



The jump in popularity for the South's leader came on the back of a landmark cooperation agreement with Pyongyang.



After the evaporation of inter-Korean tensions following last week's deal, Seoul now has its sights on implementing one of the key points agreed with the North -- bringing separated relatives back together for reunions.



Red Cross officials from both sides are to discuss the matter next Monday ahead of the Sept. 27 Chuseok holiday, which typically brings together generations of family members to honor their ancestors.



Following stop-start reunion initiatives since a breakthrough summit in 2000, a South Korean Unification Ministry spokesperson told reporters Monday that the upcoming dialogue will focus on "how to regularize the family reunions."



Time is running out for tens of thousands of now elderly relatives who await a meeting for the first time in decades -- it is a personal reminder of the impact that separation has had on the peninsula's people since World War II and the subsequent 1950-53 Korean War.



But already the South Korean president is reaping the rewards of her trust-building policy towards North Korea.



Having suffered a series of popularity blows during the first half of her five-year term, Park's Realmeter approval reached 49.2 percent -- the rating also matches that of the latest survey by Gallup Korea. - Seoul-t'ukpyolsi