South Korean Unification Minister proposes talks with Pyongyang about families separated during the war

Sep. 8 (EUROPA PRESS) –

South Korean Unification Minister Kwon Young Se on Thursday proposed holding talks with North Korea to discuss the issue of families separated by the 1950-1953 Korean War, stressing the urgency of resolving it.

Kwon has issued a statement suggesting inter-Korean dialogue on the eve of the Chuseok autumn harvest festival, which is one of the biggest annual celebrations for South and North Koreans, Yonhap news agency reported.

The minister has pointed out that several of the members of the separated families on the other side of the heavily fortified border are in their 80s or 90s, which is why he has urged that the problem be resolved before they die.

To do this, it has proposed drawing up “rapid and fundamental measures, using all available methods”, according to the aforementioned agency.

The head of the Unification Ministry has expressed that meeting events that take place intermittently with a small number of families are not enough, stressing that his government is ready to hold dialogues with the North “at any time and place, regardless of the format.

Since the first inter-Korean summit in 2000, the two Koreas have held 21 rounds of face-to-face family reunion events, the last of which was held in August 2018.

The two Koreas have a long history of hosting family gatherings around the Chuseok holiday, which celebrates the fall harvest. This year, Chuseok falls on Saturday and is part of a four-day holiday, starting on Friday.