The unification ministry said Tuesday it will push to conduct DNA tests on descendants of families separated by the 1950-53 Korean War in a bid to use their gene information for potential family reunions with their relatives in North Korea.

The move comes as more aging separated family members in South Korea have died without having a chance to meet with their long-lost relatives in North Korea amid strained inter-Korean ties.

A plan to conduct DNA tests on children and grandchildren of separated families is part of South Korea's new road map on the improvement in North Korea's human rights situation.

The blueprint laid out a short- and long-term vision and plan to address human rights violations in North Korea and allow more North Koreans to get access to outside information.

Currently, the government has carried out gene tests on separated families in a bid to set up a gene information database so that it can be used for finding their kin in North Korea after their deaths.

The number of surviving separated family members came to 39,881 as of the end of November, with 65.6 percent of the total aged 80 and older, government data showed.

The ministry said it plans to actively encourage descendants of separated families to receive gene tests starting next year and provide support for DNA tests on separated family members living abroad.

The divided Koreas have held 21 rounds of reunions since the landmark summit of their leaders in 2000, bringing together more than 20,000 family members who had not seen each other since the war. The two sides last staged temporary family reunions in 2018.

In 2022, South Korea proposed holding talks with North Korea to try to discuss family reunions, but the North has yet to respond to the offer.

South Korea said it also seeks to allow North Korean defectors to apply for DNA tests if they want, as they can be viewed as separated family members in a broad sense.

To publicly raise the issue of six South Koreans detained in North Korea, the ministry said it plans to regularly request North Korea confirm their fates and repatriate them back home.

The six South Koreans, including missionary Kim Jong-wook, are under yearslong detention in North Korea, with their whereabouts in the North being unknown.

Separately, the estimated number of South Koreans abducted to North Korea following the Korean War is 516 as of the end of 2022, but many of them are believed to have died.

Meanwhile, the ministry said it will support civic groups' efforts to promote the inflow of outside information to North Korea.

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, North Korea has further tightened state control on people's ideology by adopting a new law in 2020 that calls for punishing people for bringing and disseminating outside culture and information.

A ministry official said the government's planned support for civic groups would have nothing to do with activists' campaigns to send leaflets carrying message critical of the North Korean regime across the border. (Yonhap)