Families talk of Korean reunification

North Koreans from inside a bus bid goodbye to their South Korean relatives after a family reunion at Mount Kumgang, North Korea, yesterday. PHOTO: AFP

A 93-year-old South Korean woman wept yesterday as she bid farewell to her North Korean son, three days after they reunited for the first time in half a century.

"I never thought I would see you again!" Kim Bun-hee said while embracing her 71-year-old son whom she had not seen since 1951. "Now that I have seen you, I won't be sorry even if I die now."

Yesterday, Kim and 452 other South Koreans returned home at the end of a weekend reunion, the latest in a series of such group events organized by the two rival governments since a historic summit in 2000.

Kim first didn't first recognize her son when they met on Saturday at Diamond Mountain, a resort on North Korea's east coast.

"Let's meet again after the reunification" of North and South Korea, said Kang Im-suk, 71. "Let's go home and work toward reunification."

Millions people remain separated in the 1950-53 Korean War, which followed the peninsula's division in 1945. The war ended in an armistice, not a peace treaty.

There is no cross-border mail, telephone service or other communications between ordinary citizens.

Since the 2000 summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong-il and then South Korean president Kim Dae-jung, the Koreas have allowed thousands of family members to reunite temporarily.

Yesterday, television footage showed families exchanging photos and rubbing each other's face at the farewell gathering.

Foreign reporters were not allowed to attend, but South Korea media filed pool reports, including television footage and written description of the encounters.

"Once reunification takes place, I will visit you with the remains of my mother," Pak Gwang-bin, a 47-year-old North Korean man, told his southern relatives. Pak took part in the reunion in place of his mother, who died just days before the reunion began.