The Unification Ministry is urging North Korea to hold as soon as possible an inter-Korean reunion of families separated during the Korean War.

The ministry said Friday that it also asked the North for a list of the deceased and date of death, for North Koreans who took part in previous reunions.

A ministry official said that in November 2004, Seoul sent Pyongyang a list of one hundred-seven South Koreans who died after their reunions, and the North promised to do the same.

The official strongly urged the North to keep its promise, saying inter-Korean family reunions should remain separate from the North's nuclear issue.

Almost ten thousand South Koreans have met long-separated relatives in the North in ten reunions since the historic inter-Korean summit in 2000. Among them, two hundred forty-five Southerners have since died.