The North Korean mountain resort turned again into a sea of tears Thursday as Koreans were parted from their families after days of temporary reunions.
“Stay healthy! Live long!” 85-year-old Lee Sun-kyu from the South told her once husband Oh In-se, who lives in the North.
She was bidding farewell to him after a series of brief meetings that lasted just a total of 12 hours.
Park Yong-hwan, 75, from the South carried his 82-year-old sister on his back just before leaving Mount Kumgang, where the inter-Korean family reunion event was held starting on Tuesday.
“You carried me on your back when I was young. Now, I do so for you,” Park said, with his eyes teary.
They were among hundreds of Koreans granted a rare chance to meet their long-lost families living on the other part of the heavily-fortified border for the first time in more than six decades.
Nearly 130,000 South Koreans are registered in the government’s database as having family in the North, split by the 1950-53 Korean War. Half of them have already died and around 66,000 others still hope for reunions with their relatives in the North.
Amid the rather chilly and cloudy autumn weather, the South Koreans headed back home without any plan to see their families in the communist nation again. Reunions may be unlikely before unification, as the two Koreas are technically still at war with the 1950-53 Korean War ending in a truce, not a peace treaty.
Tight border control will continue, blocking phone calls and email exchanges.
It marked the first inter-Korean family reunion event in a year and eight months, a result of the Aug. 25 deal between the two Koreas that ended a military standoff.
Another round of reunions involving 250 more South Koreans from 90 families will be held from Saturday to next Monday at the scenic mountain, home to a resort developed by the South’s Hyundai Group.
Such family reunion events began in 2000, riding on the accomplishment of the first inter-Korean summit. Twenty face-to-face family reunion events have been held so far, as well as seven video conference reunions. (Yonhap)
