AlQa'dah 15, 1434, Sep 21, 2013, SPA -- North Korea on Saturday indefinitely postponed reunions of families separated by the 1950-53 Korean War scheduled to start Wednesday, an apparent setback after weeks of improving ties following springtime threats of war, AP reported. North Korea said the six days of reunions, which last happened three years ago, could not be held because of South Korean conservatives' "reckless and vicious confrontation racket" against Pyongyang, a claim that North Korea routinely makes. It also vowed, in similarly familiar rhetoric, to "take strong and decisive counteractions against the South Korean puppet regime's ever-escalating war provocations." The development, which an analyst called a North Korean attempt to gain an advantage in negotiations with Seoul, is a twist in what had been gradually easing tensions on the Korean Peninsula, with Pyongyang tempering its threats and pursuing talks meant to restart various inter-Korean cooperation projects. The biggest highlight is the recent return of North and South Koreans to a jointly run factory park just across the border in North Korea after a five-month shutdown. -- SPA 18:54 LOCAL TIME 15:54 GMT تغريد
