Seoul September 8 : The South Korean Unification Minister, Kwon Young-se Thursday, in public, suggested talks with North Korea to discuss the issue of families split by the 1950-53 Korean War, stressing the importance of finding a solution to the issue.In an official statement, Kwon offered an inter-Korean dialogue on the day of the Chuseok celebration that is considered to be one of the biggest celebrations of the year that is celebrated by both South and North Koreans, reports Yonhap News Agency.
He said that a lot of the people with relatives from the other side of the border that is heavily fortified are in their 80s or 90s.
“(We) need to solve the issue before the term itself of “separated family” disappears,” he said.”(The two sides) should come up with swift and essential measures using all the available methods.”
He added that the occasional reunions that involve a small percentage of families is not enough, and said the government is ready to engage with the North anytime, anywhere , and regardless of the format.
At the time of writing, there were 43,746 living South Koreans who had registered with the government to ask it to search for their relatives in the North, with 37,264, or 85 percent of the total population, aged 70 or over as per the Unification Ministry’s statistics.
Since their first summit in 2000 the two Koreas have hosted 21 rounds of face-to-face family reunions, with the last one held in August of this year.
They have a history of organizing family reunions in celebration of the Chuseok holiday to celebrate the harvest season.
This year’s Chuseok falls on a Saturday, and the four-day celebration begins on Friday.
