After being separated for 65 years, South Korean Lee Soon-kyu (left), 85, smiles as she greets her husband, North Korean Oh In-se (right), 85, during South-North family reunions on Oct. 20 at a resort near Geumgangsan Mountain. Oh left home for military training in July 1950, and the couple, married for only seven months, have not been able to be together for 65 years.
Severed Korean families have been able to reunite at a resort near Geumgangsan Mountain in North Korea. This is the first reunion since a reunion in February last year, and is the 21st set of family reunions since the Korean War cleaved the nation in two.
Ninety-six South Korean families consisting of 398 people arrived at Geumgangsan Mountain on Oct. 20 and waited for their family members from the North. At around 3:30 p.m., 96 North Korean families made up of 114 people stepped into the room shortly after the loudspeakers announced that the families would soon arrive.
A sister recognized her older brother as soon as she saw him. A son found his father only after reading the name tag on his father's lapel. A daughter who was meeting her father cried for her ill mother who was not able to come. "My nephew looks more like me than my brother," joked one old man speaking with his sister-in-law as he met his nephew.
The reunions stretched into a welcoming dinner, wrapping up the first day. This first half of the reunions is officially hosted by the South and runs until Oct. 22. The follow-up reunion formally hosted by the North starts on Oct. 24.
Lee Jeong-sook, 68, from the South kisses her father from the North during family reunions on Oct. 20 at a resort near Geumgangsan Mountain in North Korea. The daughter and her father, Ri Heung-jong, 88, have been separated since she was two years old.
Families meeting again after six decades spend some happy moments together sharing pictures during their brief reunions on Oct. 20 at a resort near Geumgansan Mountain in North Korea.
Families separated by the Korean War (1950-1953) reunited for the first time over three days from Sept. 20 to 23 in 1985. During that first reunion, the families were able to cross-visit both Seoul and Pyongyang.
No reunions followed until 15 years later. Then, South-North family reunions resumed after the first inter-Korea summit in June 2000.
This is now the second family reunion under the Park Geun-hye administration.
By Chang Iou-chung
Korea.net Staff Writer
Photos: Yonhap News
icchang@korea.kr
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