A little girl looks through binoculars towards North Korea from a viewing platform covered with ribbons bearing goodwill messages during a visit to Goseong Unification Observatory on February 22, 2018 in Goseong-gun, South Korea. (Photo by Carl Court SEOUL, South Korea - South Korea’s new government on Thursday proposed a meeting with North Korea to discuss a resumption of reunions of families separated since the 1950-53 Korean War, despite long-strained ties between the rivals over the North’s nuclear weapons program.Family reunions are a highly emotional humanitarian issue because they involve people in their 80s and older who are desperate to see their long-lost relatives before they die.
But North Korea, which often uses such reunions as a bargaining chip in dealings with South Korea, is unlikely to accept the offer because it has steadfastly rebuffed Seoul’s and Washington’s offers to resume talks on its nuclear program and other issues while focusing instead on developing its weapons technology."The South and the North should confront the painful parts of the reality.
We must solve the matter before the term ‘separated families’ disappears," Unification Minister Kwon Youngse said in a televised briefing.