Koreans bid farewell to family as they part yet again
26 Feb 2014 6:46 AM IST
‘Brother, brother, my brother! How can I live without you?’ the sister, Park Jong-soon, cried out from the parking lot at the North’s scenic Diamond Mountain resort, according to South Korean media pool reports.
Wiping away tears, Pak Jong Song shouted back: ‘Stay healthy! We’ll see each other again if we’re healthy.’
That may be wishful thinking. The brief, painfully emotional reunions that ended Tuesday - the first since late 2010 - are unlikely to be repeated anytime soon. Neither country has ever allowed a second chance for people to meet their relatives across the border.
And while Seoul has long pushed for more reunions, analysts say North Korea is reluctant for fear that increasing their frequency will loosen its authoritarian control and give up a coveted bargaining chip.
The two sets of reunions that started last week, which involved about 750 people from both countries, almost didn’t happen. North Korea had threatened to cancel them to protest annual US-South Korean military drills that began Monday, but allowed the reunions to go forward after high-level talks with Seoul. Analysts say North Korea’s recent charm offensive is motivated by a desire to win outside aid and investment.
The participants had only three days to meet with relatives most of them hadn’t seen since the Korean War ended in an armistice in 1953. Millions of families were separated by that conflict - and now the world’s most heavily fortified border.
Both sides bar ordinary citizens from visiting each other and even exchanging phone calls, letters and emails. About 22,000 Koreans have had brief reunions, 18,000 in person and the others by video, during a previous era of rapprochement.
Wiping away tears, Pak Jong Song shouted back: ‘Stay healthy! We’ll see each other again if we’re healthy.’
That may be wishful thinking. The brief, painfully emotional reunions that ended Tuesday - the first since late 2010 - are unlikely to be repeated anytime soon. Neither country has ever allowed a second chance for people to meet their relatives across the border.
And while Seoul has long pushed for more reunions, analysts say North Korea is reluctant for fear that increasing their frequency will loosen its authoritarian control and give up a coveted bargaining chip.
The two sets of reunions that started last week, which involved about 750 people from both countries, almost didn’t happen. North Korea had threatened to cancel them to protest annual US-South Korean military drills that began Monday, but allowed the reunions to go forward after high-level talks with Seoul. Analysts say North Korea’s recent charm offensive is motivated by a desire to win outside aid and investment.
The participants had only three days to meet with relatives most of them hadn’t seen since the Korean War ended in an armistice in 1953. Millions of families were separated by that conflict - and now the world’s most heavily fortified border.
Both sides bar ordinary citizens from visiting each other and even exchanging phone calls, letters and emails. About 22,000 Koreans have had brief reunions, 18,000 in person and the others by video, during a previous era of rapprochement.
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