A US human rights official has visited a South Korean island where a high school student was abducted by North Korea in the 1970s.

Julie Turner, US Special Envoy for North Korean Human Rights Issues, visited the island on Friday, along with South Korea's Unification Minister, Kim Yung-ho.

They attended a ceremony to unveil a monument set up in hopes of the safe return of five South Koreans who were abducted by the North in the 1970s when they were high school students.

One of them is Kim Young-nam, who is known to have gotten married in the North to Yokota Megumi. She is a Japanese abducted by North Korean agents on her way home from school in 1977.

Turner said she will continue to urge Pyongyang to return the abductees back home, referring to her visit in February to a site in Niigata Prefecture where Yokota was kidnapped.

The unification minister noted that the parents of the abductees were robbed of their precious children. He stressed he will continue to appeal to the international community to help find a solution to the issue.

The families of the abducted students also attended Friday's ceremony.

A man whose younger brother was abducted said he really wants to see his sibling. He also said he is pleased that many people are becoming aware of the issue and hopes they maintain their concern.