SEOUL: The South Korean unification ministry announced plans to conduct DNA tests on the descendants of families separated by the 1950-53 Korean War, as part of a new roadmap addressing human rights issues in North Korea. This initiative aims to use genetic information for potential family reunions with relatives in North Korea. The plan comes amid the death of many aging separated family members without the opportunity to reunite with their kin in the North due to strained inter-Korean relations.
According to Yonhap News Agency, there are currently 39,881 surviving separated family members, with the majority being over 80 years old. The ministry intends to encourage gene testing for descendants of these families starting next year and will also support DNA tests for separated family members living abroad. The divided Koreas have held 21 rounds of family reunions since 2000, but the last one took place in 2018. South Korea's proposal for talks on family reunions in 2022 remains unanswered by North Korea.