North Korea said Sunday it has agreed to South Korea's proposal to resume reunions for families separated since the 1950-53 war, in another apparent sign of easing tensions.

The North has agreed to hold the event during the traditional Chuseok holiday that falls on September 19 as suggested by the South, Pyongyang's Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea said in a statement on official media.

South Korea on Friday proposed formal talks next week with the North on arranging the first reunion in three years of families separated by the 1950-53 Korean War.

In a telephone message, the South suggested holding discussions on August 23 under Red Cross auspices at the border village of Panmunjom, where the ceasefire ending Korean War hostilities was signed, the Unification Ministry said.

The United Nations is in urgent need of $98 million to finance emergency aid for the people of North Korea, the U.N. coordinator for the impoverished country said Thursday.

Of the $150 million needed to maintain food, health and sanitation programs by five U.N. agencies in the country for 2013, $98 million is still needed, the world body said.

South Korean President Park Geun-Hye called Thursday for the first family reunions with North Korea in three years, a day after the two nations agreed to reopen a joint industrial zone.

In a speech marking the anniversary of Korea's liberation from Japanese rule in 1945, Park urged Pyongyang to "open its heart" and agree to a meeting next month for families left divided for decades by the Korean War.

South Korea called Thursday for the first family reunion event with North Korea in three years, a day after the two nations agreed to reopen a shuttered joint industrial zone.

President Park Geun-Hye, in a speech marking the anniversary of Korea's liberation from Japanese rule in 1945, urged Pyongyang to "open its heart" and agree to a meeting next month for families left divided by the Korean War.

Fidel Castro credited North Korea Wednesday with supplying Cuba with free weapons in the 1980s after the Soviet Union said it could no longer defend the island against a U.S. invasion.

Castro's reminiscence in an article published Wednesday came as U.N. experts were scrutinizing a shipment of Cuban arms to North Korea to determine if they violated a U.N. ban.

North and South Korea reached an agreement Wednesday to re-open the Kaesong joint industrial zone -- closed by Pyongyang in April at the height of soaring military tensions.

The five-point agreement that came out of a seventh round of talks committed both sides to making "active efforts" to resuming normal operations as soon as possible after inspecting the shuttered plants in Kaesong.

The United States on Monday urged North Korea to free a jailed U.S. citizen, warning that his health was deteriorating.

The State Department confirmed accounts by Kenneth Bae's sister that the Korean-American tour operator was moved from prison to a hospital in North Korea.

Kenneth Bae, a U.S. citizen jailed in North Korea, has been moved from a prison camp to a hospital in Pyongyang as his health deteriorates, U.S. media reported.

Bae's sister Terri Chung told The New York Times and CNN on Sunday that her 45 year-old brother has lost more than 50 pounds (23 kilos) and has problems with his kidneys and liver.

South Korea and the United States on Saturday said they would launch an annual military exercise later this month, routinely denounced by North Korea as an "all-out war rehearsal.”

The South Korea-U.S. Combined Forces Command (CFC) will conduct the Ulchi Freedom Guardian exercise from August 19 through to August 30, the CFC said in a press statement.