Lee urges North Korea to consider basic family contact

President Lee Jae Myung on Friday called on North Korea to join the South in enabling divided families to at least confirm the fate of their relatives and exchange letters, stressing that such humanitarian steps are the duty of both governments.

Speaking at a meeting with displaced Koreans at the Peace Observatory on Ganghwa Island, Lee said inter-Korean ties are now “completely severed and in very poor condition,” with hostility dominating the relationship. He emphasized that politics bears much of the responsibility for the situation.

“Even if we continue to confront each other politically and militarily, families separated by the division of the peninsula should at the very least be able to confirm whether their loved ones are alive, and, if nothing else, exchange letters,” Lee said. “This is the responsibility of all politics on both sides.”

He appealed to the North to consider these issues on humanitarian grounds, noting that most surviving first-generation separated families are older adults and running out of time. Lee also pledged Seoul’s full efforts to improve conditions for divided families so that progress can be made.