Unification Minister Kim Yung-ho has vowed to make the issue of separated families his highest priority, saying it is the most urgent issue that both South and North Korea need to deal with. 
 
The minister made the pledge Wednesday during a joint ancestral service for the Lunar New Year organized by members of war-torn families at Imjingak in the border city of Paju, Gyeonggi Province.

Discussing the plight of South Koreans from families divided by the Korean War, Kim said their average age is 83 and about three-thousand die every year without having had a chance to reunite with loved ones in the North. 

Noting that South Korea proposed an inter-Korean consultative body to discuss the issue on Liberation Day in August, the minister strongly urged North Korean authorities to adopt a more responsible attitude to deal with the issue before it’s too late. 

The minister added that this year is a meaningful one, since it marks the 80th anniversary of Korea’s liberation from Japan, and that the ministry plans to take the occasion as an opportunity to console the pain of division and open the path for reunification.