Separated by war, Koreans rejoice reunion with families
21 Feb 2014 11:10 PM GMT
Several hundred elderly South and North Korean relatives clung to each other, rocking and weeping, and trading photos and faded memories as they met after 60 years on Thursday at a reunion for families divided by the Korean War.
The emotional gathering at North Korea’s Mount Kumgang resort was the result of tortuous, high-level negotiations between Pyongyang and Seoul, which had nearly broken down over the North’s objections to overlapping South Korea-US military drills.
Television footage showed snow falling hard as 82 South Koreans, some so frail they had to be stretchered indoors, arrived at the resort in a convoy of buses to meet 180 North Korean relatives they have not seen for decades.
Inside the main hall, where numbered tables had been laid out, there were moving scenes as divided brothers, sisters, uncles, aunts, step-siblings and in-laws sought each other out and then collapsed into each others’ arms.
One of the oldest South Koreans, a 93-year-old man who was separated from his pregnant wife during the 1950-53 conflict, met the now 64-year-old son he had never seen.
‘So old,’ were his first words as they came face-to-face -- the resemblance strikingly clear to people watching. ‘Let me hug you,’ the father said and then, sobbing, they both embraced.
The emotional gathering at North Korea’s Mount Kumgang resort was the result of tortuous, high-level negotiations between Pyongyang and Seoul, which had nearly broken down over the North’s objections to overlapping South Korea-US military drills.
Television footage showed snow falling hard as 82 South Koreans, some so frail they had to be stretchered indoors, arrived at the resort in a convoy of buses to meet 180 North Korean relatives they have not seen for decades.
Inside the main hall, where numbered tables had been laid out, there were moving scenes as divided brothers, sisters, uncles, aunts, step-siblings and in-laws sought each other out and then collapsed into each others’ arms.
One of the oldest South Koreans, a 93-year-old man who was separated from his pregnant wife during the 1950-53 conflict, met the now 64-year-old son he had never seen.
‘So old,’ were his first words as they came face-to-face -- the resemblance strikingly clear to people watching. ‘Let me hug you,’ the father said and then, sobbing, they both embraced.
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