Eighty-two South Koreans, accompanied by 58 family members, met about 180 relatives from the North in the first round of the six-day event. The participants rushed into each other’s arms, stroking the withered faces and hands of their long lost kin and introducing their respective children. “Sister, it’s me. Why can’t you recognize me?” Ri Jong-sil tearfully asked Lee Young-shil, her 88-year-old South Korean sister, who suffers from dementia.
For Jang Choon, 82, the event helped him not only reunite with his younger brother but also learn that he and his son had the same occupation: train driver. “I promise I will come visit you again in my own train. You just stay healthy and live long,” said Jang’s son, Ki-woong, looking at his aged uncle and aunt.
Choi Nam-soon, 65, sat down with three half brothers and sisters on behalf of her deceased father, who was abducted by North Korean agents decades ago. But after being shown an old picture of their father, she said it was not the man she knew. “But let’s think of each other as blood relatives and have a good time until the event is over,” Choi said, inviting smiles from the North Koreans.
In preparation for the reunion, the aged South Koreans received medical checkups and training for their much-awaited trip at a resort in Sokcho, Gangwon Province. Among them were two men on their way to meet their brothers who were taken to the North while fishing in the West Sea in the 1970’s.
As they prepared to leave for Mount Geumgangsan, most participants appeared to be full of hope and somewhat nervous, with some weeping with emotion. “If you’re crying already, what are you going to do when you actually see them?” Unification Minister Ryoo Kihl-jae told Choi Jung-ho, 87, as he helped her on the bus.
Kim Sum-kyung, 91, and Hong Shin-ja, 84, crossed the border by ambulance. “He was adamant and would rather die at Mount Geumgangsan. … But we have to keep monitoring his condition (to see) if he can participate in all of the events,” a Red Cross official said of Kim, who traveled to meet his son and daughter in the North.
The Unification Ministry, Korean Red Cross and Hyundai Asan Corp. have been organizing the event for several weeks, clearing snow and repairing facilities that have been dormant for more than three years.
For three days, an additional 360 South Koreans gathered with 88 North Korean relatives for a second round of reunions.
The first family reunion since late 2010 came after the two Koreas held a rare high-level dialogue last week. During the talks, the North agreed to hold the reunions as scheduled, without taking issue of the South Korea-U.S. military drills slated to begin on Feb. 24 which, it calls, is a rehearsal for war. “The reunions, for us, are the most important humanitarian project,” said Yoo Jung-geun, president of the (South) Korean Red Cross, at a reception dinner hosted by the North. “We have no time. We should formulate measures to fundamentally resolve the issue as soon as possible.”
The separated families are becoming an ever more pressing issue because of their old age and waning health. Some have died, while others gave away their chance to participate in the reunions due to health problems this time around.
