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`The artificial division of our country into two halves along the 38th Parallel shortly after the liberation in 1945 has imposed the most agonizing national tragedy on our people whose one million families remain separated in the south and north for more than a quarter of a century. In a purely humanitarian move based on the Red Cross spirit, the Republic of Korea Red Cross Society proposed to its North Korean counterpart on August 12, 1971 to hold south-north Red Cross talks to help locate and eventually reunite the separated families. The proposal was soon accepted by the North Korean Red Cross Society. Subsequently, the Republic of Korea and North Korean Red Cross representatives met for initial contacts at Panmunjom for several times beginning August 20, 1971. A month later, on September 20, 1971, the two sides opened the first preliminary meeting at the same place. Altogether, the two Red Cross Societies had since held 25 rounds of preliminary tolks interspersed with 16 closed-door working-level meetings. At the 25th and last preparatory meeting held on August 11, 1972 - exactly a year after the ROK Red Cross made the proposal - the two sides agreed to hold the first main conference in Pyongyang on August 30, 1972 and the second full-scale session in Seoul on September 13. The ensuing meetings are to be held alternately in the two cities. The Ministry of Communications, praying that plenary Meetings of the South-North Red Cross Conference will progress well to a successful conclusion to enable the divided families to reunite at the earliest possible date, is issuing this commemorative stamp.`