Lee Urges Renewed Action as Korea’s Separated Families Grow Older

President Lee Jae Myung called for renewed efforts to address the plight of families separated by the Korean War, describing the issue as the most pressing concern facing the two Koreas as the number of surviving relatives continues to decline.

Lee made the appeal in a statement for the fourth Separated Families Day. Unification Minister Chung Dong-young read the message at a commemorative event in Seoul because Lee was in New York for the United Nations General Assembly. The president noted that eight years have passed since the last reunion and said families should be able to contact and see one another regardless of where they live.

The statement placed the humanitarian issue within Lee’s broader call for the two Koreas to move away from hostility and confrontation. He urged both sides to pursue respect and genuine exchanges, while promising that his administration would continue seeking progress even though official relations between Seoul and Pyongyang remain stalled. No new reunion timetable was announced.

The urgency is underscored by government registration figures. As of the end of August, 134,843 people had registered as members of separated families, but 101,895 of them had died. About 67 percent of those still alive were at least 80 years old, leaving a rapidly narrowing window for face-to-face meetings between relatives divided for decades.

The Korean War ended with an armistice in 1953 rather than a peace treaty, and many families have remained unable to communicate across the border. Chung, who was born on the day the armistice was signed, said the two Koreas could not remain at war forever and argued that the cease-fire arrangement should ultimately be replaced by lasting peace.

Kim Hyung-seok, a 106-year-old professor emeritus of philosophy at Yonsei University and a first-generation member of a separated family, also addressed the event. Born in Pyongyang in 1920, he recalled that he never imagined leaving his hometown during the war would keep him away for so long. Jung Min-soon, who heads a committee representing separated families, called for a memorial to preserve their stories and convey the value of peace to future generations.

Lee’s message elevates the aging families’ situation as a test of whether humanitarian cooperation can resume despite the wider political impasse. With most surviving applicants already in advanced age, any prolonged delay would leave fewer people able to take part even if negotiations eventually restart.