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Together at last

February 20, 2014

Separated family members from 2 Koreas have emotional reunions

Lee Young-shil, 86, right, from South Korea, cannot hold back her tears as she finally got to meet her younger sister Lee Jung-shil, 83, who lives in North Korea. (Yonhap)

Lee Young-shil, 86, right, from South Korea, cannot hold back her tears as she finally got to meet her younger sister Lee Jung-shil, 83, who lives in North Korea. (Yonhap)

Kim Sung-yoon, 96, the oldest in a group of 82 elderly South Koreans, meets her younger sister during the first part of cross-border family reunions at the Mt. Geumgang Resort in North Korea, Thursday. The elderly South Koreans, accompanied by 58 family members, began long-awaited meetings with 180 North Korean relatives during the three-day event. (Yonhap)

Kim Sung-yoon, 96, the oldest in a group of 82 elderly South Koreans, meets her younger sister during the first part of cross-border family reunions at the Mt. Geumgang Resort in North Korea, Thursday. The elderly South Koreans, accompanied by 58 family members, began long-awaited meetings with 180 North Korean relatives during the three-day event. (Yonhap)

By Chung Min-uck and Joint Press Corps

A kaleidoscope of scenes unfurled at the Geumgangsan Hotel in North Korea where 82 South Koreans in their 60s to 90s met their long-separated siblings, aunts, nephews and other relatives.

At one table, two sisters couldn’t speak for a full minute before embracing each other and crying.

Not far away, a brother and sister were standing, embracing each other — also crying. At another table, two sisters checked old photos, probably of their parents.

It was a dream-come-true event for all the members and especially so for Kim Young-hwan, 90, who met his 87-year-old former wife and 65-year-old son for the first time in 60 years — they parted during the Korean War (1950-53) after Kim fled to the South.

Unable to suppress his sorrow, a tearful Kim repeatedly told them, “I’m so sorry…”

After tying the knot again in the South, Kim had five children here.

“My father has always felt sorry for his wife and son in North Korea. He used to say that he wanted to give them a big hug if he had a chance to meet them,” said Se-jin, one of Kim’s sons who accompanied his father for the event.

Next to the couple, Lee Young-sil, 88, was meeting her 67-year-old daughter from the North. But Lee could not even recognize the girl she left six decades ago with her husband, since she suffers from severe Alzheimer’s disease.

Park Woon-hyung, 93, met his 68-year-old daughter Myung-ok and two other sisters in their 70s. Myung-okis the daughter he left in the North when he was 25.

“I have never forgotten you and my hometown even for a second. Let’s live healthily until unification and meet again,” Park told his daughter and sisters.

Later in the day, the reunited families attended a welcoming banquet hosted by North Korea at the Geumgangsan Hotel.

The elderly South Koreans, accompanied by 58 family members, met with 178 of their North Korean relatives in an event that will last until Saturday.

“Thank you, Thank you so much for allowing me to see you again,” Park Yang-gon, 52, kept on repeating those same words as he got together with his 58-year-old brother Yang-soo during the reunions.

The ex-sailor from South Korea was kidnapped by the North while fishing in 1972.

Park said his brother became a fisherman back then to help his family have a better life. “After the incident, our parents were haunted by the memories of my brother until the day they died,” he said.

Park Yang-gon also met Yang-soo’s wife for the first time during the reunions.

Starting Sunday, another 361 South Koreans will hold reunions with 88 North Korean relatives until the entire program ends, Tuesday.

Participants here willed themselves to not let go of the once-in-a-lifetime chance of meeting their family members from the Stalinist North, notwithstanding that the reunions are like saying hello and then goodbye at the same time due to time constraints.

A 91-year-old South Korean surnamed Kim, who fell Wednesday because of aging and illness, when asked whether he will be able to make it to the North, said, ”When I happen to die I will die at Mt. Geumgang,” according to a South Korean Red Cross official.

Consequently, he was taken to the North by ambulance, according to the Ministry of Unification which handles inter-Korean affairs. He successfully met his 66-year-old son and 68-year-old daughter, whom he had not seen for over 60 years.

South Koreans’ crossing of the militarized border came as the two Koreas agreed to leave aside their different standpoints on political and economic issues, and hold the reunions as previously scheduled.

The inter-Korean reunions are the first since late 2010.

The meetings are a pressing humanitarian issue on the divided peninsula, as most of the separated family members are aging.

Thousands of Korean families remain separated on either side of the border as the two Koreas are technically in a state of war after the three-year conflict ended in a cease-fire, not a peace treaty.