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Koreans at family reunion wish for reunification in farewell

Xinhua, October 22, 2015 Adjust font size:

Korean families, who were taking part in the three-day reunion for those separated by the 1950-53 Korean War, wished for reunification of their divided homeland at the farewell gathering on the third and last day of the highly charged event.

The first round of family reunion, which began Tuesday at the scenic Mount Kumgang resort in the southeast of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), ended Thursday with a two-hour farewell meeting, according to South Korea's unification ministry in charge of affairs with the DPRK.

The second stage is scheduled to run for three days from Saturday at the same venue.

During the farewell meeting, tearful scenes were spotted in tables in the resort's banquet hall as the participants, mostly in their 80s and 90s, knew that it would be the last time they can see each other.

Some were wiping away tears, while some simply stared at each other. Some were saying goodbyes while holding hands, and some taping the last look and voice of their relatives, according to a pool report.

Nam Chul-Sun, 82-year-old from the DPRK, told his 80-year-old sister Nam Sun-Ok from South Korea that "if (the two Koreas are) reunited, we can get together to live in a big house for all."

"My wish is to meet each other again when our homeland is reunited," one participant said.

The 389 South Koreans are scheduled to arrive in Sokcho city, a gathering point in South Korea's northeast coast, later in the afternoon after meeting with their 141 DPRK relatives for the first time in more than six decades.

Since the Korean War ended with armistice in 1953, no exchange of letters and phone calls have been allowed.

With some 65,000 South Koreans being on the waiting list for reunion, the vast majority of candidates are unlikely to meet their long-lost relatives in DPRK due to their old age.

Seoul offered to Pyongyang to hold the humanitarian event regularly, but the DPRK has been mum about it.

The Oct. 20-26 reunion was agreed in late August when top-level military advisors to South Korean President Park Geun-hye and top DPRK leader Kim Jong Un met to defuse tensions that had pushed the two Koreas to the brink of armed conflict. Enditem