South Korea's Red Cross on Friday proposed holding working-level talks with its North Korean counterpart on Sept. 7 to discuss the issue of reunions for families separated by the Korean War, a government official said.

The Korean Red Cross proposed the two sides meet at its "House of Peace" in the village of Panmunjom inside the Demilitarized Zone that divides the Koreas, according to Unification Ministry spokesman Jeong Joon-hee.

The South made the offer through a contact channel in Panmunjom at 9:50 a.m., he said.

On Tuesday, the two Koreas agreed in a landmark agreement to push for the resumption of temporary family reunions around Chuseok, the Korean equivalent of Thanksgiving Day, which falls on Sept. 27.

Marathon talks between top officials of the two sides were also held at the House of Peace from Saturday through early Tuesday.

Officials here have said the actual reunions are likely to take place in October, given the time needed to draw up a list of participants.

The Korean Red Cross has begun working to confirm the fate of more than 66,000 separated family members known to be alive in the South. A total of 129,698 people are registered in the government's data system and half of them are reported to have died.

The two Koreas have held 19 rounds of face-to-face family reunion events so far, including the last one in early 2014. Around

2,200 South Koreans, mostly in their 70s, 80s and 90s, met their relatives in the North.

If held, the upcoming reunions are likely to take place in a resort on North Korea's Mount Kumgang, which was the venue for all previous reunion events.

Family reunions have become an increasingly pressing humanitarian issue as most of the separated family members have become advanced in age and wish to see their long-lost relatives before they die.

There are no direct means of contact between ordinary civilians of the two countries that remain divided by a heavily fortified border. (Yonhap)