South Korea on Tuesday proposed holding reunions during next month's Winter Olympics for families divided by the 1950-53 Korean War, as the two sides held their first official talks in more than two years.

The issue is one of the most emotive legacies of the conflict and the South urged that the meetings be held at the Lunar New Year, which falls in the middle of the Pyeongchang Games, the South's vice unification minister Chun Hae-Sung told journalists.