Separated families begin reunion trip to N. Korea

By Kim Hyun
SOKCHO, South Korea, Sept. 26 (Yonhap) -- A group of elderly South Koreans
departed for North Korea on Saturday to be briefly reunited with their long-lost
relatives there, the first such event in nearly two years.

Ninety-six South Koreans, 30 of them too frail to walk alone and accompanied by
one family member each, headed to the Mount Kumgang resort on the North's east
coast by bus, through the heavily-fortified demilitarized zone.
"It's been almost sixty years. I am happy and also confused," Kim Un-seon, 86,
said. He was set to meet his son and daughter-in-law from the North's Hwanghae
Province for the first time since leaving his home at the onset of the Korean
War in 1950.
The elderly gathered in this eastern seaside town just south of the border on
Friday. Four others, initially selected in the 100-member list, were unable to
come because of their frail health, according to the National Red Cross of South
Korea which set up the reunions with its North Korean counterpart. More than
three-quarters of the participants are 70 or older.
The reunions are being held in two separate events. During the first three days,
the South Koreans will be reunited with their 240 relatives in the North who were
found to be still alive and able to travel. In the second segment of the event,
99 North Koreans will be reunited with 449 relatives living in the South.
South Korean Red Cross President Yoo Chong-ha traveled to the North with the
South Korean families, and a meeting with his North Korean counterpart, Jang
Jae-on, is expected during the earlier segment of the event.
About 600,000 people in the South are believed to have family in the North from
whom they have been separated since the 1950-53 war. Candidates were first
selected through a computer lottery, with the final lists being drawn from
applicants whose relatives were located, giving priority to immediate family
members and the elderly.
The humanitarian event was arranged after North Korean leader Kim Jong-il agreed
last month to resume the reunions in a meeting with Hyun Jeong-eun, chairwoman of
South Korea's Hyundai Group, a major investor in the North. The North has since
followed up with a series of other conciliatory moves, such as lifting
restrictions on a South Korean-run industrial park on its soil.
Political tensions mounted after the conservative government of President Lee
Myung-bak came to power in the South last year. Lee toughened up on the North's
nuclear drive and suspended massive aid, while North Korea boycotted dialogue and
suspended the family reunions. The mood further chilled after a North Korean
soldier in the Mount Kumgang resort area shot and killed a South Korean tourist
who had strayed into an off-limits military zone in July last year.
hkim@yna.co.kr
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