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| Unification Minister Cho Myung-gyon vows support for families separated since the Korean War in their joint ceremony celebrating the Chuseok holiday in Imjingak Park in Paju, just south of the demilitarized zone on Monday. Yonhap |
Unification Minister said Monday the government will beef up efforts to reconnect families separated for decades since the Korean War in various ways in the follow-up negotiations with North Korea.
Cho Myung-gyon was speaking to a group of divided families who jointly celebrated the Chuseok holiday at Imjingak Park in Paju, just south of the demilitarized zone separating the two Koreas.
"For both South and North Korea, the problem of divided families is an urgent task that can't be delayed," Cho said in an address. "The scene of the divided families exchanging their addresses and wishing for each other's health at the recent reunion touched people's hearts. We will make every effort to help them keep their promises to see each other again."
Cho said the government will seek various ways to check if separated relatives are still living, allow them to visit their hometowns and pay tribute to their ancestors' graves in the follow-up meetings with the North.
Last month, Seoul and Pyongyang resumed the joint reunions to bring the separated families together at the Mount Geumgang resort on the North Korean eastern coast for the first time in nearly three years.
Still, tens of thousands remain separated from their family members since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War, which ended in a truce.
During their third summit last week, the leaders of the two Koreas agreed make a joint effort to declare the formal end to the war by the end of this year. (Yonhap)
