Korean Reunions

From the Stars and Stripes:

"Koreans celebrate reunions across DMZ, 1st in more than year "

 

Hundreds of mostly elderly Koreans — some in wheelchairs or leaning on walking sticks, most overcome by tears, laughter and shock — began three days of reunions Tuesday with loved ones many have had no contact with since war divided the North and South more than 60 years ago. About 390 South Koreans traveled to the North's scenic Diamond Mountain resort. Dressed in business suits, formal dresses and traditional hanbok, they brought long johns, medicine, parkas, calligraphy works and cash to give as presents to about 140 family members in the North. The reunions, as always, are a mixture of high emotion and media frenzy. Journalists crowded around South Korean Lee Soon-kyu, 85, as she met with her North Korean husband, Oh Se In, 83. As camera flashes bathed them in glaring white light, she cocked her head and looked with amazement at Oh, who wore a dapper suit and hat and craned backward to take in Lee. The images are broadcast throughout South Korea, where the reunions are big news. North Korea's government, which analysts believe worries that scenes of affluent South Koreans might influence its grip on power, published a report about the reunions through its state media that said the North Korean participants explained to their South Korean relatives how their lives have been "happy" and "worthwhile" under the North's socialist system. The deep emotions stem partly from the elderly reuniting after decades spent apart, partly from the knowledge that this will be their only chance. None of the past participants has had a second reunion. The reunions, the first since February of last year, are a poignant yet bitter reminder that the Korean Peninsula is still in a technical state of war because the 1950-53 fighting ended with an armistice, not a peace treaty. The Koreas bar ordinary citizens from visiting relatives living on the other side of the border and even from exchanging letters, phone calls and emails without permission.

The Korean War separated millions of Koreans from family members for a multitude of reasons. What they have in common is shock that their homeland remains so bitterly split after so much time.

Choi Hyeong-jin, 95, reunites this week with his youngest daughter, who was 2 when he left her and is now 64. "I am not sure if I will even be able to recognize her. I don't even remember how she looked as a baby," Choi said. North and South agreed in August to resume family reunions during talks to end a standoff that began when land mine blasts blamed on Pyongyang maimed two South Korean soldiers. The rivals have a history of failing to follow through with cooperation agreements. These reunions may have been in danger had North Korea gone through with threats to conduct a satellite launch earlier this month. The launch would have likely canceled the reunions because Seoul and Washington see such firings as cover for banned tests of long-range missile technology. South Korea uses a computerized lottery system to pick participants while North Korea reportedly chooses based on loyalty to its authoritarian leadership. Most people who apply for the reunions are elderly and desperate to see their loved ones before they die. Nearly half of the 130,410 South Koreans who have applied to attend a reunion have died. Family reunions were part of a slew of now-stalled rapprochement projects the two Koreas agreed upon following first-ever summit talks between their leaders in 2000. About 18,800 Koreans have since participated in 19 face-to-face reunions and about 3,750 others have been reunited by video.

 

 

^ It's sad to hear about these reunions.  The world knows that North Korea will eventually have to open itself up more to the rest of the world (the way Cuba and other Communist countries) have had to. The Communists in North Korea have been desperately clinging to a crumbling system and country because they know that if their citizens found out the truth about their crimes it won't be good for them - the Commies. Whenever people in Communist countries are given the freedom of choice (ie the Soviet Union) they choose anything but Communism. These relatives are in their 80s-90s and may not live to see that day come. ^

http://www.stripes.com/news/pacific/koreans-celebrate-reunions-across-dmz-1st-in-more-than-year-1.374063