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There were urgent calls to resume reunions of families separated by the Korean War on Thursday, as the number of those aged 80 or over among the members of such families amounts to more than 30,000.
According to data submitted by the Korea Red Cross to Grand National Party lawmaker Lim Doo-sung, 127,321 people applied for the reunion since 1999, and as of September this year, 35,484 of those applicants had died.
ˇ°Only 16,212 applicants or 12.7 percent had an opportunity to meet their relatives in the North, and as many as 421 people have given up on meeting their separated family members,ˇ± Lim said.
Of the 91,837 who are alive, 34.1 percent are over 80, with 27,732 in their 80s and 3,604 in their 90s. The number of those in their 70s is 37,072 (40.4 percent), while 14,760 or 16.1 percent are in their 60s and 8,669 or 9.4 percent aged 59 or under.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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