South Korea: Lee says North Korea should consider humanitarian exchanges between separated families

Seoul, Oct 3 (IANS) South Korean President Lee Jae Myung said on Friday that North Korea should consider allowing families separated by the 1950-53 Korean War to confirm the fate of their relatives and exchange letters, amid no signs of progress in inter-Korean relations.

Lee has extended an olive branch to North Korea since taking office in June to try to mend frayed ties, but tensions remain high on the divided Korean Peninsula as North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has ruled out talks with South Korea and defined inter-Korean ties as those between "two states hostile to each other."

"I think it is the responsibility of the political circles in both South and North to let the separated families confirm whether their relatives are alive and, at the very least, exchange letters," he said during a meeting with elderly people who fled to South Korea from North Korea during the war.

The two countries technically remain at war as the Korean War ended with an armistice, not a peace treaty. The inter-Korean border is sealed and there is no mail, phone or other direct means of communication between ordinary residents of the two Koreas.

"I'd like to tell the North that I would like them to consider (such measures) on humanitarian grounds," he said at the Ganghwa Peace Observatory in Incheon, west of Seoul, overlooking North Korea.

"Even if we are in confrontation and conflict and competing militarily and politically, (these measures are needed) from a humanitarian standpoint."

Lee's remarks on the first day of the extended Chuseok holiday came days after Kim reaffirmed his hostile stance against South Korea while recalling that he has a "good memory" of US President Donald Trump.

In 2023, Kim defined inter-Korean ties as those between "two states hostile to each other" and vowed not to seek reconciliation and unification with South Korea.

Lee said the separated families should ideally be allowed to meet and live together, but admitted that the current inter-Korean relations are so hostile that sudden progress toward that goal is unlikely.

"I feel a sense of guilt that this is all due to the shortcomings of politicians like myself," he said before adding that he will do his best to bring forward the day the families can meet again.

The divided Koreas have held 21 rounds of reunions since the landmark summit of their leaders in 2000, bringing together more than 20,000 family members who had not seen each other since the war.

South and North Korea have usually staged family reunions around Chuseok, a major holiday that is celebrated in both countries, and other important national holidays. The two sides last staged temporary family reunions in 2018.

In 2022, South Korea proposed holding talks with North Korea to try to discuss family reunions, but the North has yet to respond to the offer.

Family reunions are a pressing humanitarian issue on the divided peninsula, as most separated family members are in their 70s and 80s and wish to see their long-lost relatives before they die, Yonhap news agency reported.

The president plans to use the weeklong holiday to rest and prepare for the remainder of the year, including the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in the southeastern city of Gyeongju on October 31 and November 1, according to his office.

On Sunday, he is scheduled to appear on a TV cooking show to introduce his favorite Korean foods and promote them.

--IANS

int/jk/rs