A North Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman said Thursday that the United States recently proposed discussing the issue through Red Cross and other channels.

The unidentified spokesman said such an exchange would help boost confidence between the countries and help resolve other problems in the future.

He did not elaborate. But a senior North Korean diplomat recently met with U.S. officials in New York to talk about ways to restart long-stalled nuclear disarmament talks.

Millions of Koreans were separated during the 1950-53 Korean War, which ended in a truce, not a peace treaty.