Euphoria as Korean reunion nears

South families to spend 11 hours with North relatives

Dozens of elderly and frail South Koreans gathered excitedly Sunday on the eve of their first meeting for nearly seven decades with family members in North Korea.

The three-day reunion – the first for three years – begins Monday at the Mount Kumgang resort in North Korea, following a rapid diplomatic thaw on the peninsula.

Millions of people were swept apart by the 1950-53 Korean War, which divided brothers, sisters, parents, children, husbands, wives and perpetuated the division of the peninsula.

Among them was Lee Keum-seom, now a tiny and frail 92-year-old lady. She was waiting to see her son for the first time since she left him behind in the turmoil of war.

She lost her husband and four-year-old son as their family fled, and boarded a ferry headed for the South with only her infant daughter – who was accompanying her to the reunion. The son is now 71 and Lee has been told that he will bring his daughter-in-law to the meeting.

She raised seven children after remarrying in South Korea, but always worried about the son she left in the North. Now there are many questions to ask. “Where he lived, who he lived with and who raised him – he was only 4,” she said.

Because the conflict ended with an armistice rather than a peace treaty, the Koreas have remained technically at war.

All civilian exchanges – even mundane family news – are banned.

Since 2000 the two nations have held 20 rounds of reunions but time is running out for many aging family members. More than 130,000 Southerners have signed up for a reunion since the events began but most of them have since died. Most of those still waiting are over 80 and the oldest participant this year is 101.

With a few people dropping out at the last minute for health reasons, 89 elderly South Koreans – accompanied by relatives – gathered in Sokcho city on South Korea’s northeast coast to spend the night before heading to the heavily-fortified border that has taken them decades to cross.

Over the next three days, the participants will spend only about 11 hours with their relatives in the North.