U.S. Republican Senator Mark Kirk has urged Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to make more efforts to provide the Korean Americans separated from their families due to the Korean War with a chance to meet their relatives in North Korea.

Kirk wrote a letter to Clinton Wednesday, stressing the need to “prioritize US efforts to reunite" such families, including an estimated 100-thousand Korean-Americans "who still have family living in North Korea.”

He went on to ask the State Department to give a detailed explanation on efforts it is making for family reunions, including those in collaboration with the South Korean government and the Red Cross.

He pointed out that Clinton has not appointed an officer to handle the issue of separated Korean families, despite a suggestion by a law enacted last year.