South and North Korea have been preparing for the upcoming reunions of separated families without a hitch as repair work at facilities for the event will be completed as scheduled, the Unification Ministry said Tuesday.
  

A group of South Korean technicians have been repairing facilities at Mount Kumgang on the North's east coast since late September in preparation for the reunions of families separated by the 1950-53 Korean War slated for Oct. 20-26. The repair work is set to be completed on Wednesday.
  

"An advance team for preparing for the reunions will visit North Korea on Thursday," said a ministry official, asking not to be named.
  

He said that the team will also include an unspecified number of technicians who will deal with machines and communications.
  

"Preparation for the reunions is proceeding without a hitch," the official said.
  

Facilities at Mount Kumgang have been used before as the venue for the family reunions, including the latest in February 2014.
  

But they have been not used often as Seoul suspended an inter-Korean tourism project at the mountain in 2008 following the deadly shooting of a South Korean tourist by a North Korean solider at the resort.
  

The upcoming reunions will be joined by less than 100 separated family members from each side.
  

The issue of the separated families is one of the most pressing humanitarian matters, as about half of the estimated 129,700 South Korean applicants for the reunions have died. (Yonhap)