Tears flow as Koreans reunite with families
Print Edition
NEARLY 400 mostly elderly and frail South Koreans began a tearful, emotionally fraught reunion yesterday with family members in North Korea, more than 60 years after they were separated by the Korean War.
After crossing the heavily militarized border into North Korea in a convoy of buses, the families from the South finally met their relatives in a mountain resort that has hosted similar reunions in the past.
There were moving scenes as divided brothers, sisters, uncles, aunts, step-siblings and in-laws sought each other out and then collapsed into each others’ arms.
For Lee Jeong-sook, 68, the moment brought her face-to-face with her 88-year-old father, Ri Hong Jong, who she was separated from when she was just two years old.
Ri was brought into the meeting room in a wheelchair and promptly burst into tears at the sight of his younger sister, Lee’s aunt, who rushed toward him shouting: “Brother!”
“This is your daughter. This is your daughter,” his sister said, pointing to Lee.
Seemingly overcome by the moment, Ri just nodded and squeezed his sister’s hand before asking for news of other family members in the South.
“Almost all died in the war,” she answered.
The two Koreas, which are divided and remain in a technical state of war, agreed to hold the family reunions for the first time since February last year after negotiating the end of a standoff at the military border in August.
With more than 65,000 South Koreans currently on the waiting list for a reunion spot, those who made it to the Mount Kumgang resort yesterday represented a very fortunate minority.
The two ambulances following the South Korean buses yesterday testified to the advanced age and, in many cases, poor health, of those making the journey.
More than 20 people required wheelchairs for mobility and one woman needed treatment and oxygen yesterday morning before boarding her bus. Four others dropped out of the trip altogether, saying they felt too unwell.
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