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PoliticsSouth Korea

South Korea proposes family reunions with North

September 8, 2022

Seoul's new conservative government made the offer amid strained relations with Pyongyang over its missile tests. The last reunions were held in 2018.

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South Korean Unification Minister Kwon Young-se speaking at a press conference in Seoul on Thursday
South Korean Unification Minister Kwon Young-se said time is running out for the elderly Koreans who are separated from their loved ones one either side of the borderImage: Ahn Young-joon/AP Photo/picture alliance

South Korea's new government proposed talks with North Korea on Thursday to organize another round of family reunions, as tensions rise over Pyongyang's missile tests.

Around 40,000 Koreans remain separated on either side of the border, the majority of whom are in their eighties and nineties. Many are hoping to reunite with their loved ones before they die.

"The South and the North should confront the painful parts of the reality," Seoul's Unification Minister Kwon Young-se said in a televised briefing. "We must solve the matter before the term 'separated families' disappears."

Although experts say North Korea is unlikely to accept the offer in the near future, Kwon said he will "continuously make proposals" to hold more family reunions.

A picture of South and North Korean families' reunion is displayed at the exhibition hall of the unification observatory in Paju, South Korea
Faimly reunions have been held periodically over the decades during times of calm between the North and SouthImage: Lee Jin-man/AP Photo/picture alliance

Rising tensions on the Korean peninsula

South Korea's conservative president Yoon Suk-yeol, who took office in May, unveiled an "audacious" plan to provide economic aid in return for nuclear disarmament on the Korean peninsula. However, he has also pledged to take a tough stance towards any potential provocations.

Kim Yo Jong, the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, said last month Yoon should "shut his mouth" and her country would not sit face to face with him, calling his plan "absurd."

Thursday's proposal by the South to resume family reunions comes after North Korea  ramped up missile tests in recent months. However, the Unification Minister said the reunions would not be part of the aid-for-denuclearization offer.

"The audacious plan and humanitarian issues can go in parallel, bringing positive effects to each other," Kwon said on Thursday.

The last reunions were held in 2018.

zc/wmr (AP, Reuters, AFP)