Nearly 2,000 aging separated family members die in first 8 months of year: gov't data

Nearly 2,000 separated family members in South Korea died in the first eight months of this year without having an opportunity to reunite with their loved ones in North Korea after being separated by the 1950-53 Korean War, government data showed Sunday.

A total of 1,961 applicants for government-arranged reunions for separated families died in the January-August period, raising the total number of such people to 96,352, according to the data from the unification ministry.

As of end-August, around 134,160 people had registered with the unification ministry for family reunion events.

The number of surviving people came to 37,806 as of the end of last month, with 66.5 percent of the total aged 80 or older, according to the data.

Separated families in South Korea have had no exchanges with their relatives in North Korea either at government or civilian levels for more than a year amid frosty inter-Korean ties.

Since the first inter-Korean summit in 2000, the two Koreas have held 21 rounds of separated family reunions. Since the last event in August 2018, state-arranged family events have been suspended.

The government plans to hold a ceremony to mark the second Separated Families Day later in the day in a bid to help solace divided families' pain, the ministry said.

Last year, South Korea designated Aug. 13 on the lunar calendar as a commemorative day for separated families by reflecting their wish to reunite with family members in the North around the Chuseok fall harvest holiday. Chuseok, which falls on Aug. 15 on the lunar calendar, is one of the country's two biggest traditional holidays.