South Korea's point man on North Korea called on the communist country Friday to free South Koreans believed to have been abducted by the country during and after the 1950-53 Korean War.
"North Korea should be cooperative with our efforts to overcome the tragic history," Unification Minister Ryoo Kihl-jae said in a commemoration event held in central Seoul by the families of South Korean abductees to the North, marking the June 25 outbreak of the civil war.
The North should not turn a blind eye to the abductee issue, Ryoo said, adding that the government will make steady efforts to verify the fates of South Koreans believed to have been kidnapped by the North, and to bring them back home.
"Resolving the issue of Korean War abductees and victims is an important task for the government as well as for the inter-Korean policy," the minister said.
Ryoo made the speech during the event as the first unification minister attending the annual gathering, which kicked off in 2010.
Seoul has repeatedly called on Pyongyang to free the abductees, but the communist neighbor denies holding any South Koreans against their will.
The national commission on Korean War abductees has said a total of 2,265 South Koreans were confirmed to have been kidnapped by the North during and after the Korean War. The government estimates that nearly 100,000 South Koreans have been kidnapped by the North since the war. (Yonhap News)
