The government plans to launch active efforts to confirm whether members of separated families in North Korea are alive, a task that such families in the South cite as top priority.

The unification ministry unveiled the decision on Tuesday when it announced its basic plan on the promotion of exchanges between war-torn families. 

Under the basic plan, the government aims to resume and revitalize exchanges, address issues concerning prisoners of war or South Koreans detained in North Korea and expand the platform for family exchanges.

Three-thousand-647 members of separated families in South Korea died last year alone before they could take part in reunions they signed up for. Currently, more than half of this group who are still alive are in their 80 and 90s.

The unification ministry is also aiming to resume reunions of separated families, starting with a virtual reunion after taking into consideration inflection points in inter-Korean ties and key occasions, including holidays.

Ahead of the Chuseok holidays last September, unification minister Kwon Young-se officially proposed that the two Koreas hold talks on separated families, but Pyongyang has yet to respond to the offer.