South Korea and DPRK were to connect a fiber optic cable link across the Cold War's last frontier on Monday to allow video conferencing for separated families, South Korean officials said.

The project is part of a plan to allow families separated by the 1950-53 Korean War to undertake "video reunions" around Aug. 15 when the two Koreas mark the 60th anniversary of their liberation from the 1910-45 Japanese colonial rule.

The cable linking border towns in the two Koreas-- Munsan and Kaesong -- was to be connected in a ceremony to be held on the southern side of the border at 2 p.m., officials at the Unification Ministry said.

The two sides agreed on the high-tech reunion plan at last month's inter-Korean cabinet-level talks.

They also agreed to hold a new round of face-to-face reunions from Aug. 26 at Mount Geumgang, a scenic resort on DPRK's east coast, and conduct land and geological surveys for construction of a permanent reunion center there. The surveys, which started Monday, are expected to be completed by end of this month.

South Korea and DPRK are also scheduled to exchange a list of 200 candidates for the family reunions, and are currently in the process of selecting people who want to be reunited with their relatives.

The South Korean list, initially chosen by computer lottery, will eventually be cut to 100 after granting priority to the aged and those with immediate relatives in the North.

It is not known exactly how DPRK selects its candidates, but in the past those Koreans of the North taking part in the reunions have included many luminaries, such as professors, artists and government officials.

So far, nearly 10,000 family members from both sides have been temporarily reunited, mostly for a three-day period, through the Red Cross program, which has organized 10 such meetings since the historic inter-Korean summit in 2000.

Neither side can cross the sealed border without receiving the permission of their respective governments, which is rarely given.

The Koreas, divided in 1945, remain technically in a state of war as no peace treaty was signed at the end of the 1950-53 Korean War.

Source: Agencies