North Korea is demolishing a venue that for decades hosted tearful reunions of families separated by the Korean War and the division of the country, Seoul said on Thursday.

The reunions in the North's Kumgang mountain, last held in 2018, were a testament to the devastating human cost of the Korean peninsula's division.

But the meetings were subject to the vagaries of inter-Korea politics and often used as a negotiating tool by Pyongyang.

"The demolition of the Mount Kumgang Reunion Center is an inhumane act that tramples on the earnest wishes of separated families," a spokesperson for Seoul's unification ministry said.

South Korea "sternly urges an immediate halt to such actions" and "expresses strong regret".

"North Korea's unilateral demolition cannot be justified under any pretext, and the North Korean authorities must bear full responsibility for this situation," the spokesperson added.

Since 1988, around 130,000 South Koreans have registered their "separated families".

As of 2025, around 36,000 of those individuals are still alive, according to official data. Seventy-five percent say they do not know if their relatives are alive or dead.

Some were lucky enough to be chosen to take part in occasional crossborder reunions, mostly hosted at the Mount Kumgang resort.

North Korea has been escalating its rhetoric against its southern neighbour in recent years, designating the south as a "hostile state".

Pyongyang also blew up sections of inter-Korean roads and rail lines on its side of the heavily fortified border last year, which prompted South Korea's military to fire warning shots at the time.

In 2023, Pyongyang scrapped a 2018 military accord designed to curb the risk of inadvertent clashes between two countries that remain technically at war, prompting the South to take a similar step. (Agencies)