Three days were too short after 65 years of separation

2024-09-20 22:54:04      点击：844

Kim Byoung-oh, 88, wipes tears during his last meeting with his younger sister from the North, at the Mount Geumgang Hotel in the North, Wednesday. / Joint Press Corps

By Kim Bo-eun, Joint Press Corps

South Koreans bid goodbye to their relatives in the North, Wednesday, after a three-day reunion that took place at Mount Geumgang.

During the three-day event, they were able to spend a total of 12 hours with long-lost relatives. But this could not bridge the 65 years they spent apart after the 1950-53 Korean War.

Lee Soo-nam, 77, met with his older brother and his wife and son in the North. Before parting, Lee asked his nephew to write down the names of his siblings.

"I don't know when we will be able to meet again. It's sad. If we were younger it may have been possible," Lee said.

"I am going to go to my parents' tomb and will tell them 'I saw that my older brother is alive and well. I want to thank you, and owe this to your prayers. They were all well and it turns out I have four nephews. I asked for their names so I could remember them for the rest of my life,'" he said.

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Han Sin-ja, 99, met with her two long-lost daughters in the North.

"I prayed that you two are living happily _ Kyong-ja and Kyong-sil. I pray that you and my grandchildren who you gave birth to live happily," she said.

"We will be able to meet again when the Koreas are unified," Ryang Myong-sok from the North, 63, told his South Korean uncle, after exchanging phone numbers and addresses.

Lee Ki-soon, 91, who brought with him a bottle of soju from the South, opened the bottle on the last day of the reunion and quietly shared it with his long-lost son. Lee's son was just two-years-old when they parted.

The reunion this time enabled participants to have lunch separately instead of in a group, to allow them more privacy. Participants were also given an additional hour to spend together on their last day.

From Friday through Sunday, another session of reunions will be held at Mount Geumgang. The first session held Monday through Wednesday enabled South Koreans to meet relatives they sought in the North. The second session will enable North Koreans to meet with relatives they sought in the South.

The reunions are being held almost three years since the last ones in October 2015.

Holding reunions in August was one of the agreements in the Panmunjeom Declaration reached at the summit between President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-jun in April.

It is uncertain whether participants will be able to meet again. Most of the surviving members are in their 70s and older. Aside from them being elderly, there are still thousands of others who have yet to meet long-lost relatives.