Unification Minister Ryu Kihl-jae says special measures are needed to fundamentally resolve the issue of families separated by the Korean War.
 
At a joint Chuseok memorial ceremony held in the border city of Paju by those who have their families in North Korea, the minister called for extraordinary measures, urging the North to respond to the inter-Korean high level talks proposed by Seoul last week. 
 
The minister noted that 70 years after the division on the Korean Peninsula, thousands of people are dying every year without a chance to reunite with their families on the other side of the border. He added that the issue of the separated families is a matter that concerns all Korean people living on the divided peninsula.