President Park Geun-hye said families separated by the Korean War are aging rapidly and stressed that it is urgent to fulfill their wishes.
 
In an address to mark the 96th March First Independence Movement Day on Sunday, Park proposed North Korea to hold a discussion to check whether the separated families are alive or not, hold family reunions regularly and allow an exchange of letters across the border between separated families.
 
Park said that she will strongly encourage the private exchange that contributes to the recovery of national homogeneity, adding that South and North Korea could begin to expand exchanges in the sports, culture and art sectors, expand projects to preserve national culture as well as conduct a joint research on history.
 
The president said discussions on the two Koreas' joint projects such as the restoration of railways connecting the peninsula will also help both countries.
 
As part of the preparations, the government will begin to restore and connect railways in the South.
 
She urged Pyongyang to escape from the hope that nuclear weapons can protect the regime and come forward to the road of openness and changes.