ISTANBUL

South Korea on Saturday held its first national commemoration for citizens abducted by North Korea during the 1950-53 Korean War, vowing to resolve long-standing humanitarian issues linked to the peninsula’s division.

“Resolving humanitarian issues caused by the division of the Korean Peninsula is a fundamental duty of the state and a top priority,” Vice Unification Minister Kim Nam-jung said at the remembrance event in the border city of Paju, according to Seoul-based Yonhap News.

Kim described the abductions as “one of the darkest legacies of division and war” and called for renewed efforts to address the issue in pursuit of peace and coexistence on the peninsula.

“We can no longer delay the urgent task of confirming the fate of abducted loved ones and easing the pain carried by their families,” Kim said, adding that the Unification Ministry will work to ease military tensions with North Korea and push for lasting peace.

The pledge follows a statement by President Lee Jae-myung earlier this month to “stop the exhausting hostilities” with the North and resume inter-Korean dialogue and cooperation.

“We will address the problems born out of national division and war one by one by reopening channels of communication with the North and work to resume dialogue,” Kim said. “In moving from confrontation to reconciliation, we will make efforts to heal the pain of national division and suffering of families of wartime abductees.”

South Korea designated June 28 as Korean War Abductees Remembrance Day last year.

Seoul estimates that North Korea has abducted around 100,000 South Koreans since the war.