South Koreans aspire to meet long-lost relatives in DPRK

Having been separated from her family for 60 years, Lee Kim-de, 91, is excited about seeing her younger brothers living in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) soon. "My hometown is in Hwanghae-do of the DPRK. After I left my home town, I live by myself for decades,"she said with tears brimmed in her eyes."My parents passed away in the DPRK, leaving only my two younger brothers, whom I am eager to meet this time." A total of 82 aged South Koreans, accompanied by 58 family members, now stay in the resort in the east coastal city of Sokcho after accepting medical checkups and training on do's and don'ts for the upcoming family reunions with their relatives in the DPRK. Lee prepared several down coats for her brother considering the cold weather there. She also put chocolate pie, biscuits, instant noodles and sugar into her package as the gift for her brothers. Kim Cai-il, 69, arrived in the resort five hours early than schedule only because he worried about the possible traffic jam. Kim brought a picture of his late father to help her half- sister in the DPRK recognize him. "I was separated with my father when I was five years old during the 1950-53 Korean War. I can hardly remember the face of my father, but my mother said I looked like him,"he said. On Thursday, these South Koreans will leave for the DPRK's scenic resort of Mount Kumgang by bus for reunions with their 180 relatives separated by the war, according to South Korea's Unification Ministry. Unification Ministry spokeswoman Park Soo-jin said South Korea has cleaned heavy snow that blocked the road, checked heat and power system of the resort on Mount Kumgang for the reunions. South Korea and the DPRK agreed last Friday to hold the family reunion from Feb. 20 to 25 as scheduled during the inter-Korean high-level talk. As a key barometer of relations between Seoul and Pyongyang, the family reunions signals that tensions between the two sides, since DPRK conducted a nuclear test last year, have eased recently. After DPRK's top leader Kim Jong Un expressed his willingness to mend ties with South Korea in his New Year address, Pyongyang made concessions to Seoul. The two sides also agreed to stop slandering the other side to enhance mutual understanding and trust, while continuing to consult with each other about issues of mutual interests and making proactive efforts to develop the inter-Korean relations. Around 360 more South Koreans are expected to hold a second round of reunions with 88 DPRK relatives at the Mount Kumgang resort on Sunday, which will also last for three days overlapping the date of joint military exercises between South Korea and the United States. Last family reunions of this kind were held in 2010 when 436 South Koreans visited the DPRK for three days to meet their 97 relatives. The temporary government-arranged reunions are basically the only opportunity for the separated families to meet each other as telephone or mail exchanges are not allowed between them. More than 129,200 South Koreans have applied for reunions with their family members and relatives in the DPRK since 1988, 44.7 percent of who have died of old age without seeing their long-lost relatives, according to government data.