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Second group of South Koreans prepare for final cross-border family reunion

October 23, 2015

South Koreans gather to resister for the upcoming family reunions with their North Korean family members at a hotel in Sokcho, South Korea, Friday, Oct. 23, 2015. South Koreans will travel to the Diamond Mountain resort in North Korea for the Separated Family Reunion Meeting, which begins Saturday and ends Monday. (Kim Do-hun/Yonhap)

SOKCHO, South Korea (Yonhap) — Another group of South Korean families separated by the 1950-53 Korean War gathered at the country’s east coastal city on Friday to prepare for their first reunions with North Korean relatives.

The second batch of 90 families or 255 South Koreans came to the city of Sokcho to visit Mount Kumgang in North Korea on Saturday for the three-day reunions with North Korean family members they have not seen since the war.

The upcoming event follows similar family reunions involving another 96 families which ended on Thursday at a scenic resort on the North’s mountain, about a half-hour drive from Sokcho.

A group of elderly South Koreans returned home after reuniting with their beloved in the North and bidding tearful farewells while recognizing the harsh reality of division of the two Koreas.

The family reunions, the first since February 2014, are the outcome of a landmark deal that South and North Korea reached on Aug. 25 to defuse military tension and resume the family reunions.

There are more than 66,000 South Korean family members separated by the Korean War, which ended in a truce, not a peace treaty, leaving South and North Korea technically at war.

The issue of the separated families is one of the most pressing humanitarian matters as most of the surviving family members are in their 80s and older. About half of the estimated 129,700 applicants for the family reunions have died.

Separated families voiced anticipation and exhilaration ahead of the reunions while bringing care packages that include medicine, winter clothes and food.

“I cannot express how I feel. It is a relief that my sisters are alive,” said Cho Soon-jun, 83, who will meet with her three younger sisters.

The 98-year-old Lee Suk-ju, the oldest South Korean man, bought bundles of presents including jackets, shirts and shoes for his son and grandson living in the North.

“We’ve prepared care packages from our hearts. I think this is a parents’ love,” said Lee Kyung-sook, Lee’s daughter.

The second round of the reunions will be joined by older family members than the first Tuesday-Thursday reunions. Lee and Koo Sang-yeon, a 98-year-old man, are the oldest South Koreans.

As more separated families have passed away, finding parent-child relations and husband-wife ones has become rarer. For the upcoming event, most of the separated families are looking to meet their siblings or close relatives.

Since the first inter-Korean summit in 2000, the two Koreas have held 19 rounds of face-to-face family reunion events. Seven rounds of video-based reunions also have been held.

Only some 18,800 family members from both sides have been allowed to have face-to-face reunions so far.