[Reporter’s Notebook] Only Lament Over 'Confirmation of Life and Death' for Separated Families

Ministry of Unification Announces 4th Basic Plan to Promote Inter-Korean Separated Families Exchange
Separated Families Ask, "How Long Will We Only Confirm Life and Death?"

Political Desk Jang Hee-jun

[Asia Economy Reporter Jang Hee-jun] During my military service on a small island where you could see the northern land on clear days, just thinking of the word 'eomma' (mother) would bring tears to my eyes. The existence of family, whom you cannot meet without crossing the sea, felt deeply poignant. Even in just over two years, the longing was intense, but there are people who carry this pain for a lifetime. They are the separated families.

The Ministry of Unification recently announced the 4th Basic Plan to Promote Inter-Korean Separated Families Exchange. It includes a move toward 'comprehensive confirmation of life and death' to address the aging issue. So far, government-led confirmation of life and death has been limited to a few hundred people at most during rare separated family reunion events, but the government explains that the significance lies in exchanging the list of all surviving members with the North.

An elderly man who left his father in the North during the Korean War lamented upon seeing this basic plan from the Ministry of Unification, saying, "How long will we keep just confirming life and death?" In fact, the 85-page plan shows little will from the Ministry of Unification. A representative policy is to focus on producing video letters to resume separated family exchanges. From 2005 until the end of last year, 24,077 video letters were made, but only 40 were delivered to North Korea. Considering the feelings of separated families who stood in front of the camera with faint hope, continuously writing letters that cannot be sent may be painful.

Minister of Unification Kwon Young-se proposed a separated family reunion to North Korea ahead of last year's Chuseok holiday. There was no close coordination or contact with the North beforehand. Half a year has passed since then, but the Ministry of Unification only repeats that "the reunion proposal is still valid." This can be read as meaning that no solution has been found and things are still at a standstill.

What separated families want is clear: to reunite with the family forcibly scattered. If the Yoon Seok-yeol administration's North Korea policy, which places weight on 'security,' is truly bold, it must open the door to humanitarian exchanges. What those with fresh wounds need is not a sharp weapon but the government's effort to apply a gentle ointment.