ROK families return home after reunions with DPRK relatives

Republic of Korea (ROK) families separated by the 1950-1953 Korean War from relatives living in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) have returned home after three-day reunions.

Eighty-nine residents, mostly in their 80s or older, crossed the heavily-armed border into Sokcho, a city in northeastern ROK, from Mount Kumgang, a scenic resort on the DPRK’s southeastern coast, on Wednesday.

The families returned in buses after meeting with DPRK relatives for the first time since the Korean War ended in 1953 with anarmistice that left the Korean Peninsula divided.

A man selected as a participant in the Korean family reunion holds an old picture at a hotel used as a waiting place in Sokcho, ROK, August 19, 2018.

Since the war ended, people of the two Koreas have been banned from exchanging letters and phone calls, much less meeting each other.

The first meetings in nearly seven decades were painfully short. The separated families were granted permission to meet each other in group and private gatherings for only 12 hours during the three-day reunions.

During the three-hour farewell meetings earlier in the day, the families were overwhelmed with tears and grief as it would likely be the last chance to see each other, according to reports from ROK reporters at the venue.

The second session of reunions was scheduled to last from Friday to Sunday at the Mount Kumgang resort. It would involve 83 DPRK separated families who applied for gatherings with ROK relatives.

The two Koreas agreed in June to hold the reunions, the first in almost three years. A similar emotionally charged event was last held in October 2015.

A combined 20 rounds of face-to-face reunions had been arranged since the first inter-Korean summit was held in 2000, but the reunions had been limited to about 200 separated families from each side. Over half of the people on the ROK waiting list for reunions are in their 80s or older.

(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)