Moon vows to address separated families issue apart from military situation

SEOUL, Oct. 22 (Yonhap) -- President Moon Jae-in said Sunday he will deal with the separated families issue apart from the political and military tensions on the Korean Peninsula.

Since their first summit in 2000, the two Koreas have held 20 rounds of family reunion events in which relatives separated by the 1950-53 Korean War were allowed to spend a few days together. No such event has been held for two years since the last one in October 2015.

"From verifying whether a person was alive or passed away to the exchange of letters and holding reunions, we will deal with the earnest wishes of the separated families apart from the political and military situation," he said at a track meet held by an association of people whose hometowns are in the North.

Moon noted some 60,000 people still live in South Korea, separated from their family members in the North.

In July, he proposed a reunion of such families and said should North Korea not be ready, South Korea would first open its doors to allow North Korean families to visit their separated families or their hometowns here.

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