South Korean yearning for a reunion with mom

– Retired South Korean farmer Hwang Rae-ha would love to see his mother again, but nearly 70 years after he last set eyes on her, he says he would settle for a photograph.

“Too much time has passed by,”

Gyodong Island

he said. “I don’t think she is alive.”

During the Korean War, which raged for three years, Hwang’s family fled to Gyodong Island, in what is now South Korea.

But his mother returned to their home and was caught on the northern side of the heavily fortified border that divided the two Koreas after the 1953 armistice.

With tensions, North and South Korea plan to revive the cross-border family reunions.

More than 57 000 South Korean survivors are registered with the government, hoping for a shot at a brief meeting with loved ones.

Just 93 South Koreans and 88 North Koreans have been selected for a new round of reunions on August 20. – Reuters