“North Korea’s unilateral demolition cannot be justified under any pretext, and the North Korean authorities must bear full responsibility for this situation,” the spokesperson added.
Since 1988, around 130,000 South Koreans have registered their “separated families”.
As of 2025, around 36,000 of those individuals are still alive, according to official data.
Seventy-five percent say they do not know if their relatives are alive or dead.
A handful were lucky enough to be chosen to take part in the occasional crossborder reunions, mostly hosted at the Mount Kumgang resort.
With the reunion program effectively halted, the reality for most of the separated families is that they are unlikely to ever see each other again.
Severing ties
North and South Korea held the first such reunion in 1985, but it was not until 2000 that they became regular events following the first inter-Korean summit that year.
The reunions were marked by emotional scenes of families tearfully reuniting and parting after brief days of meeting.
Relations between the two Koreas are now at one of their lowest points in years, with the North launching a flurry of ballistic missiles last year in violation of UN sanctions.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un last year declared Seoul his “principal enemy” and renounced his government’s long-held goal of re-unification.
