South Korea’s Unification Minister Ryoo Kihl-jae has urged North Korea to come forward for dialogue to ease pains of families separated by the Korean War and families of abductees and Korean War prisoners held in North Korea.

The minister made the remarks on Thursday in a speech read by Vice Unification Minister Hwang Boo-gi at the Imjingak Pavilion in Paju, near the border between the two Koreas.

Ryoo also called on Pyongyang to swiftly release South Korean missionary Kim Jung-wook, who has been detained in the North since October 2013.

The minister vowed to make his best efforts until all the separated families are reunited and the abductees and prisoners of war return home.

To that end, the minister said the government will continuously seek dialogue with the North to hold family reunions regularly and allow an exchange of letters across the border between separated families. He also announced a plan to help families send video letters to their relatives in the North and to build a genetic information database of the separated families.