South Korean President Lee Jae-myung met with citizens displaced from their hometowns in North Korea by the peninsula’s decades-long division on Friday, expressing hope that improvements in inter-Korean ties will allow separated families to reconnect.

The meeting took place at the Ganghwa Peace Observatory on the inter-Korean border ahead of the fall harvest holiday of Chuseok, when Koreans traditionally visit their hometowns to gather with family and honor their ancestors.