Separated Koreans set for farewell after temporary reunions

MOUNT KUMGANG, North Korea, Sept. 28 (Yonhap) -- After three days of tearful reunions, hundreds of South and North Koreans living on opposite sides of the tightly-controlled border for decades were to bid farewell to each other on Monday.

Ninety-seven selected South Koreans, mostly in their 70s or older, had a series
of group and private meetings with their long-lost families in North Korea on the
weekend at the Mount Kumgang resort on the communist nation's east coast.
The government-arranged reunions between families separated by the 1950-53 Korean
War were the first of their kind under the conservative South Korean
administration of President Lee Myung-bak, which has taken a tougher line on the
nuclear-armed North despite criticism that it is undoing reconciliatory measures
of the two previous liberal governments.
On Monday, the families held one-hour farewell reunions before the South Koreans
head back to the South later in the day, according to pool reports.
The three-day reunions will be followed by another round of similar meetings to
be held at the resort from Monday till Thursday. For the second segment of the
event, 449 South Koreans are scheduled to gather in the eastern coastal city of
Sokcho at 2 p.m. on Monday to leave together for Mount Kumgang by bus.
Millions of Koreans remain separated since the Korean War with no information on
the fate of their families, as they are not allowed cross-border communication
and travel without government approval.
The 546 South Korean families participating in the reunions this time, organized
after a two-year hiatus, were selected through a computer lottery.
(END)