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SEOUL, Jan. 15 (UPI) — More than three-quarters of South Koreans registered as members of families separated by the 1950-53 Korean War have died without being reunited with relatives in North Korea, official government data showed Thursday.

As of Dec. 31, 2025, a total of 134,516 people had registered with South Korea’s government as separated family members, the Ministry of Unification said in its latest statistical release. Of those, 101,148 — about 75% — were confirmed dead, leaving just 34,368 survivors.

The figures highlight the rapid aging of the remaining survivors. More than 65% of living registrants are aged 80 or older, including 10,885 people aged 90 or above, the data showed.

North and South Korea have held 21 family reunions since 2000, with the most recent taking place in August 2018 during a period of inter-Korean detente. Relations have frozen over in recent years, however, and time is not on the side of family members still hoping to connect with long-lost relatives.

Since taking office in June, President Lee Jae Myung has called for restoring humanitarian cooperation with Pyongyang, identifying separated family reunions as a priority issue in efforts to stabilize inter-Korean relations.

“I believe that it is the responsibility of all political leaders in both the South and the North to ensure that these tragically separated families can confirm the fate of their relatives and, at the very least, exchange letters,” Lee said in October.

Seoul has also sought to advance humanitarian engagement through institutional measures. In December, the Ministry of Unification released a 2026 policy plan aimed at “peaceful coexistence” with North Korea, pledging to expand separated family programs such as DNA testing, video messages and efforts to confirm the status of missing relatives.

Unification Minister Chung Dong-young underscored the sense of urgency during a recent visit with elderly separated family members, including a 105-year-old man in Seoul. “Separated families represent the greatest sorrow born of national division,” Chung said, adding that “time is running out.”

North Korea has not responded to recent proposals for humanitarian exchanges, however, as inter-Korean communication channels remain dormant amid heightened tensions over Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile programs. In February, North Korea began dismantling the facility used for family reunions at its Mount Kumgang tourist zone, a further sign of deteriorating relations.

Kim Yo Jong, the influential sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, said on Tuesday that South Korea’s hopes for improved ties were an “illusion.”

“As far as Seoul’s various hope-filled wild dreams called ‘repair of (North-South) relations’ are concerned, they all can never come true,” Kim said in a statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency.

Businesspeople with investments in now-suspended inter-Korean projects on Wednesday called on the government to lift its unilateral sanctions imposed in 2010 that ban joint businesses with North Korea.

Ten organizations with interests in inter-Korean projects, including associations of investors in the once-thriving Kaesong Industrial Complex and the Mount Kumgang tourist zone, made the call at a press conference.

The businessmen were referring to far-reaching suspensions of joint economic projects with North Korea announced on May 24, 2010, under the former conservative Lee Myung-bak administration following the North’s deadly torpedoing of the South Korean Navy frigate Cheonan in March that year.

Under the action, Seoul suspended trade, investment and all assistance programs with North Korea, except for humanitarian aid.

“The May 24 measures dealt a fatal blow to companies involved in inter-Korean economic projects and blocked all economic lifelines,” an association official said.

“The government should open up the passage for the private sector and companies to do business legally at a time when dialogue between the South and North governments is difficult,” the official added.

The businessmen pointed to North Korea’s increasing economic projects with China and Russia, saying they also plan to engage in direct or indirect business with the North once the sanctions are lifted.

The call came as the unification ministry plans to consider lifting the 2010 sanctions as part of an effort to ease tensions with North Korea and resume dialogue.

Even if the sanctions are lifted, it would likely be only symbolic as international sanctions by the United Nations Security Council effectively prohibit doing business with Pyongyang.

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Caracas, January 4, 2025 (venezuelanalysis.com) – The governments of Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Uruguay, and Spain issued a joint statement Sunday rejecting “unilateral US actions in Venezuelan territory.”

“These actions contravene basic principles of international law and represent a very dangerous precedent for peace and regional security,” the communique read.

The joint statement followed widespread regional and global condemnation of Washington’s January 3 strikes against Venezuelan military sites and kidnapping of President Nicolás Maduro and First Lady Cilia Flores.

The countries went on to issue calls for dialogue and urged the United Nations secretary general and member states to help “de-escalate tensions and preserve peace.” 

In response to US President Donald Trump’s claim that he would “run” Venezuela, the signatories expressed concern over “attempts at foreign government control or seizure of natural resources.” However, the declaration made no mention of Maduro nor called for his release.

The diplomatic response to the US attacks also included an emergency summit of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean nations (CELAC), held on Sunday, January 4. Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yván Gil decried the US actions as blatant violations of international law and the United Nations Charter.

“The US has violated the personal immunity of a sitting head of state,” Gil told regional leaders in the conference call. “Kidnapping a president is kidnapping a people’s sovereignty.”

Venezuela’s top diplomat urged CELAC member-states to “take a step forward,” warning that silence would amount to acceptance of Washington’s unilateral acts.

A number of countries, including Venezuelan allies Russia and China, have forcefully denounced the US military operation. In a Sunday statement, Beijing charged Washington with a “clear violation of international law” and called for Maduro and Flores’ “immediate release.”

The UN Security Council is scheduled to hold an emergency session on Monday.

For her part, Venezuela Vice President and now acting Interim President Delcy Rodríguez reiterated demands for Maduro’s release and vowed that the country would not submit “to any empire.” Rodríguez held a press conference Saturday afternoon and confirmed the enactment of a decree establishing a “state of external commotion.” The instrument grants the executive additional tools, including the ability to mobilize troops or restrict civil liberties, for a period of 90 days that can be extended.

On Saturday night, the Venezuelan Supreme Court ruled that Maduro’s kidnapping and rendition to US soil constituted a temporary absence and that Rodríguez was mandated to take over the presidency on an interim basis.

Footage surfaced Saturday evening showing Maduro being walked out of an airplane in New York. He was later taken to a DEA facility before being moved, along with Flores, to the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn. He made no statements but greeted DEA officers and appeared upbeat in photos, making a peace sign and holding his thumbs up.

The Venezuelan president was indicted by a New York district court on Saturday, with charges including “narcoterrorism conspiracy” and “possession of machine guns.” A hearing is reportedly scheduled for Monday.

For their part, Venezuela’s National BolivarianArmed Forces (FANB) likewise issued a communique on Sunday, rejecting the “cowardly kidnapping” of Maduro and Flores and reiterating its mission to “confront imperial aggression.”

The FANB voiced support for Rodríguez taking over the presidency on an acting basis and vowed to maintain readiness to preserve “peace and internal order.” 

The Defense Ministry has yet to provide a report on damages and casualties from the US strikes, though Sunday’s communiqué condemned the “cold-blooded murder” of members of Maduro’s security detail. Unconfirmed reports have put forward a figure of 80 deaths.

Venezuelan popular movements and political parties took to the streets for a second consecutive day on Sunday, holding marches and rallies in Caracas and other cities. Public transportation and retail functioned to a greater degree than on Saturday.

The US attacks also spurred numerous international solidarity demonstrations over the weekend. Crowds gathered in dozens of Latin American, European and US cities. A demonstration was called for Sunday outside the Brooklyn detention center where Maduro is being held.

The January 3 operation came on the heels of the largest ever US Caribbean military build-up, with Trump having previously ordered dozebs of strikes against small boats accused of carrying drugs, killing over 100 civilians. The US president has repeatedly expressed intentions of using military threats to extract favorable oil deals for US corporations.

In a Sunday interview, Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned the acting government in Caracas to “make the right decisions” and affirmed that the US retained “leverage” mechanisms, including a naval blockade stopping oil exports.

The deployment comes after deadly unrest amid protests by the Alawite minority in the coastal cities.

Syrian government troops have been deployed to the coastal cities of Latakia and Tartous after demonstrations led to deadly clashes in which at least three people were killed and 60 were injured.

It’s the latest turmoil to challenge President Ahmed al-Sharaa’s fledgling government, which has been pushing to stabilise the nation and reintegrate internationally after 14 years of ruinous civil war.

Syria’s Ministry of Defence announced on Sunday that army units with tanks and armoured vehicles had entered the centre of the cities in the country’s west in response to attacks by “outlaw groups” against civilians and security forces, with a mission to restore stability.

Syria’s state news agency SANA, quoting officials, reported that the attacks were carried out by “remnants of the defunct regime” of former President Bashar al-Assad during protests in Latakia.

SANA said 60 people were wounded by “stabbings, blows from stones, and gunfire targeting both security personnel and civilians”.

Clashes reportedly broke out as the protesters were confronted by pro-government demonstrators, and masked gunmen opened fire on security personnel.

The Ministry of Interior said in a statement that a police officer had been among those killed. An Al Jazeera team confirmed that gunfire was directed at Syrian security forces at the Azhari roundabout in Latakia, while two security personnel were also wounded in Tartous after unknown assailants threw a hand grenade at the al-Anaza police station in Baniyas.

Alawite protests

The violence has flared as thousands of Alawite Syrians took to the streets across the religious minority’s heartland in central and coastal parts of Syria on Sunday to protest against violence and discrimination.

The protests were called for by Ghazal Ghazal, an Alawite spiritual leader living outside the country, who had issued a call to “show the world that the Alawite community cannot be humiliated or marginalised” after the deadly bombing of a mosque in Homs on Friday.

The bombing, which killed eight people and was claimed by a Sunni group known as Saraya Ansar al-Sunna, was the latest act of violence against the religious minority, to which the ousted former President al-Assad also belongs and which had huge prominence under his rule.

The protesters also demanded that the government implement federalism – a system that would see power decentralised from Damascus in favour of greater autonomy for minorities – and the release of Alawite prisoners.

“We do not want a civil war, we want political federalism. We do not want your terrorism. We want to determine our own destiny,” Ghazal, head of the Islamic Alawite Council in Syria and abroad, said in a video message on Facebook.

‘We want federalism’

One of the antigovernment protesters on Sunday, Ali Hassan, said the demonstrators sought an end to the ongoing violence against the Alawite community.

“We just want to sleep in peace and work in peace, and we want federalism,” he said. “If this situation continues like this, then we want federalism. Why is it that every day or every other day, 10 of us are killed?”

A counterprotester, Mohammad Bakkour, said he had turned out to show his support for the government.

“We are here to support our new government, which from the very first day of liberation called for peace and for granting amnesty to criminals,” he said, accusing the antigovernment protesters of seeking to “sabotage the new path toward rebuilding the nation”.

“The entire people are calling for one people and one homeland, but they do not want one people or one homeland – they want sectarianism, chaos, problems, and federalism for their personal interests.”