国产精品99一区二区三_免费中文日韩_国产在线精品一区二区_日本成人手机在线

S. Korean separated families return home after reunions with DPRK relatives

Source: Xinhua| 2018-08-22 17:14:40|Editor: xuxin
Video PlayerClose

SEOUL, Aug. 22 (Xinhua) -- South Korean families, separated by the 1950-1953 Korean War, from relatives living in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), returned home Wednesday after three-day reunions.

Eighty-nine South Koreans, mostly in their 80s or older, crossed the heavily-armed inter-Korean border into Sokcho, a city in northeast South Korea, from Mount Kumgang, a scenic resort in the DPRK's southeast coast.

The South Korean separated families returned in buses after meeting with DPRK relatives for the first time since the Korean War ended in 1953 with armistice that left the Korean Peninsula divided.

Since the war ended, people of the two Koreas have been banned from exchanging letters and phone calls, much less meeting each other.

The meetings in nearly seven decades were painfully short. The separated families were granted permission to meet each other in group and private gatherings for only 12 hours during the three-day reunions.

During the three-hour farewell meetings earlier in the day, the families were overwhelmed with tear and grief as it would be the last chance to see each other, according to pool reports from South Korean reporters at the venue.

An 88-year-old Kim Byeong-oh from South Korea was not able to stop tears as he sat next to his 81-year-old sister, Kim Sun-ok, from the DPRK. "Stop tears, brother. You should not shed tears," said the sister.

The sister burst into tears soon. They kept shedding tears for about 10 minutes, finding no word to say. The brother gently held his sister's hand, wiping tears from her cheek.

Shin Jae-cheon, a 92-year-old South Korean, made a promise to his 70-year-old sister, Shin Kum-sun, from the DPRK, saying he would take her home to let her have food fully when the days come for people from the two Koreas to come and go freely.

Her sister currently lives in the DPRK's border town of Kaesong, just a 40-minute drive from Gimpo, a northwestern South Korean city where Shin currently lives.

"It will not take long to go from Kaesong to Gimpo. Reunification (of the two Koreas) should come early," said the younger Shin.

Han Shin-ja, a 99-year-old grandmother from South Korea, clung to the window of a bus where her two daughters were waiting for departure. The bus was about to depart northward, but Han kept weeping, clinging to the bus.

The second session of reunions was scheduled to last from Friday to Sunday at the Mount Kumgang resort. It would involve 83 DPRK separated families who applied for gatherings with South Korean relatives.

The two Koreas agreed in June to hold the reunions, the first in almost three years. The emotionally charged event was last held in October 2015.

A combined 20 rounds of face-to-face reunions had been arranged since the first inter-Korean summit was held in 2000, but the reunions had been limited to about 200 separated families from each side. Over half of South Koreans on the waiting list for reunions are in their 80s or older.

TOP STORIES
EDITOR’S CHOICE
MOST VIEWED
EXPLORE XINHUANET
010020070750000000000000011100001374102961
主站蜘蛛池模板: 横峰县| 定襄县| 渭南市| 孟州市| 手游| 青河县| 贵德县| 莱西市| 浮山县| 长顺县| 扎鲁特旗| 通江县| 乌什县| 亳州市| 陆丰市| 灵石县| 嵩明县| 汤原县| 衢州市| 宝丰县| 宣恩县| 峨眉山市| 仲巴县| 崇礼县| 宁河县| 兴和县| 长子县| 邯郸市| 永昌县| 秦安县| 荔浦县| 景德镇市| 河西区| 华宁县| 根河市| 南木林县| 东安县| 永和县| 吉水县| 米泉市| 通化县|