The United States says it will continue efforts to reunite Korean Americans with long-lost family members in North Korea despite the North’s plan to launch a rocket next month.

The U.S. State Department spokesperson’s office told Seoul-based Yonhap News on Thursday that Washington’s project to reconnect Korean Americans separated from their family members in the North is a humanitarian matter and the U.S. will do its best to help those people.

The office added that the American Red Cross facilitates family reunions around the globe as part of its humanitarian mission.

U.S. Special Envoy for North Korean Human Rights Issues Robert King recently met with heads of divided family organizations in the U.S. He recommended those leaders have people register with the American Red Cross in order to have successful family reunions and correspondence.