LOW FLYING

which separated brothers and sisters, parents and children, husbands and wives.

Hostilities ceased with an armistice, leaving the two Koreas technically still at war and the peninsula split by the impenetrable Demilitarized Zone, with all direct civilian exchanges – even mundane family news – banned.

The three-day reunion at Mount Kumgang, a scenic resort in North Korea, is the first for three years and follows a diplomatic thaw on the peninsula.

Lee Keum-seom, now tiny and frail at 92, met her son for the first time since she and her infant daughter fled.

At the time Ri Sang Chol was aged just four. Lee shouted his name when she saw the now 71-year-old, before hugging him.

Before leaving for the meeting, Lee said: “I never imagined this day would come. I didn’t even know if he was alive or not.” – AFP

Picture: EPA-EFE Glenn Coldenhoff from the Netherlands competes during the first Grand Prix in the MXGP class of the Motocross World Championship in Frauenfeld, Switzerland, on Sunday.