Eight out of 10 South Koreans whose families were divided by the 1950-53 Korean War are over 70, indicating that time is fast running out for them to meet their families in the North, a government report showed Thursday.

According to the Unification Ministry’s first-ever report on separated families, the government confirmed 66,611 survivors out of the 81,800 separated families registered with the ministry since 1999 through visits to their houses, phone calls and visits to their workplaces.

Out of the 66,611, 6 percent were over 90, 38 percent were in their 80s, 37 percent were in their 70s and 14 percent were in their 60s.

About 95 percent of them were separated from their families around the time of the Korean War, and 74 percent lost their families during the war.

About 45 percent were looking for parents, spouses or children in the North, while another 44 percent wanted to search for siblings, and 11 percent were searching for other relatives.

The ministry conducted a separate survey of 10,605 separated families, which found that 40 percent wanted to know whether their families in the North were alive, while another 36 percent wanted to see their families face to face.

Just 8 percent said they already know whether or not their families in North Korea are alive through contact with relatives in Japan and China or exchange programs run by authorities or civilian groups.

Some 20,800 separated families have had reunions, the first of which came in 2000 after the landmark summit meeting between the two Koreas.

The reunions of families divided between the two Koreas last took place in October 2010, but recent chilly inter-Korean relations have dimmed prospects for reunions in the near future.

By Kim Yoon-mi (yoonmi@heraldcorp.com)