South Korean President Lee Jae Myung has called on North Korea to permit brief reunions of families that have been separated by the Korean War decades ago, although analysts say his pleas will almost certainly fall on deaf ears in Pyongyang.
"Unfortunately, inter-Korean relations are currently mired in deep distrust, but the issue of separated families remains the top priority that South and North Korea must work together to resolve," Lee said this Saturday, in a speech marking the third annual memorial day for separated families. He urged "dialogue and cooperation" to resolve the issue.
The large-scale fighting between the two Koreas and their allies ended with the 1953 armistice which divided the peninsula. With no permanent peace treaty in place, however, North and South Korea are technically still at war. In this speech, Lee pledged that his administration would do its "utmost to ensure peace takes root on the Korean Peninsula" and make sure that "the grief of the separated families is not passed down to future generations."
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