it would also try to restore dialogue with North Korea so the government program can resume.
Seoul (ANTARA News/AFP) - South Korea will increase financial aid for separated families who hold privately arranged reunions with their relatives from North Korea, the unification ministry said Monday.

Some family members separated since the 1950-1953 war have hired private agencies to set up reunions with relatives from the North in third countries.

The official reunion program has halted due to cross-border tensions. Official data showed 28 private reunions took place last year.

The unification ministry, which handles cross-border affairs, said it would double financial assistance to 2.0 million won ($1,759) for citizens who try to find their relatives in the North through private agencies.

Aid for families who use private organizations to arrange reunions in third countries will rise from three million won to five million won, it said.

The ministry said it would also try to restore dialogue with North Korea so the government program can resume. It was suspended in late 2010 after the North`s shelling of a border island killed four South Koreans.

The private agencies operate informally by making contact with North Korean officials, mostly around the China border, and secure their help in arranging reunions in exchange for payment.

Hundreds of thousands of family members were separated during the war. There are no civilian mail or phone connections across the border, and many do not even know whether their relatives are alive or dead.

Since 2000, sporadic events have briefly reunited more than 17,000 people face-to-face and an estimated 3,700 -- usually those too frail to travel -- via video link.

But 80,000 people in the South alone are on the waiting list for reunions and thousands die every year before getting their chance.

Tensions remain high after the North`s failed rocket launch in April.

Pyongyang has also threatened attacks on Lee`s government and conservative media for perceived insults to its regime.

(T008)

Editor: Ella Syafputri
Copyright © ANTARA 2012