A senior U.S. lawmaker on Wednesday urged the Donald Trump administration to actively seek the reunions of Koreans in the U.S. with their separated families in North Korea.   

Brad Sherman, chair of the House Subcommittee on Asia, the Pacific and Nonproliferation, made the call during a Senate committee hearing for David Stilwell, assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs. 

Sherman said that Koreans in the U.S. who have family members in North Korea do not have much time due to their old age. He suggested the U.S. government arrange for Korean Americans a visit to North Korea or video reunions as part of nuclear negotiations with the North. 

Stilwell called the suggestion a "great idea" and said he would convey it to U.S. Special Representative for North Korea Stephen Biegun, who is in charge of working-level talks with the North.