Ahead of the Lunar New Year's holiday in early February, the government says it is exerting efforts to realize video conferences between families separated by the Korean War.

Unification Ministry spokesman Baik Tae-hyun on Monday revealed the progress in the inter-Korean agreement to pursue video reunions between separated families of the two sides.

Asked to clarify when the video conferencing could take place, Baik referred to a traditional holiday, without specifying further. 

He said inter-Korean discussions on the issue began last year, and Seoul is consulting with both Pyongyang and the international community to set up the video reunions and video message exchanges.  

During their summit in Pyongyang last September, President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un agreed to cooperate to arrange such events.   

Since the first-ever summit of their leaders in 2000, the two Koreas have held 21 rounds of face-to-face family reunion events, including the most recent one last August.