The South Korean Red Cross is set to launch a survey of surviving members of the separated families soon to prepare for the reunions to be held in mid-October.

The organization will set up some 100 telephones and begin the confirmation process of the applicants’ current status and whereabouts after consultation with the Unification Ministry, a Red Cross official told The Korea Herald.

Since 1988, a total of 129,698 people have registered with the Seoul government as having their relatives in the North. Of them, 66,292 people, including 1,064 South Korean nationals living abroad, have been listed as alive.

The Red Cross plans to contact each of the surviving family members by phone or mail to confirm if they are still alive and willing to be listed as participants to the upcoming reunions to take place in the North. Seoul and Pyongyang are scheduled to work out details next month.

During her Liberation Day speech on Aug. 15, President Park Geun-hye called on the North to exchange the lists of surviving members of the families that have been separated across the border since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War. Pyongyang has yet to respond.

By Song Sang-ho (sshluck@heraldcorp.com)