Unification Minister Cho Myoung-gyon on Friday called on North Korea to accept South Korea's proposal to arrange a reunion event for families separated by the 1950-53 Korean War.

"Both the South and the North should feel shameful of the current situation where no reunions of separated families are allowed," the point man on North Korean affairs said at a joint traditional Lunar New Year ceremony held at the Imjingak park near the border with North Korea. 

South Koreans who were pushed apart from their families in the North by the civil war joined the ancestral ritual at the border to mark the traditional holiday.

"A family reunion event should be arranged as soon as possible without any conditions," Cho said, reiterating that Seoul is willing to arrange reunions whenever and wherever if Pyongyang accepts its proposal for such events.

The minister also referred to a growing detente between the two Koreas, saying, "The mood of peace and reconciliation started to be in the offing with the occasion of the PyeongChang Olympics as hopes of spring started to show despite cold wind."

He also vowed to turn the detente into a chance to discuss the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and improvement in inter-Korean relations.

"Seoul will further intensify its defense posture and tighten cooperation with its neighboring countries, including the United States, so as to prevent any concerns among South Koreans."

Seoul has proposed that the two Koreas resume reunions of separated families in the high-level talks with the North early last month. But the North rejected the overture.

(Yonhap)