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Tearful Reunions As Families From Across The Border Meet In North Korea

Swarajya Staff

Aug 20, 2018, 06:44 PM | Updated 06:44 PM IST


The reunion. (O Jong-Chan-Korea Pool/Getty Images) 
The reunion. (O Jong-Chan-Korea Pool/Getty Images) 

The summit between North and South Korean leaders has led to a positive outcome as over 150 Koreans separated by war for over 60 years were finally reunited, BBC has reported.

The reunion, being organised in North Korea, is the scene of tearful meetings as long-separated family members finally meet each other. The oldest among the South Korean group is a woman aged 101 years. 83 North Koreans and 89 South Koreans are taking part in the meeting.

The two countries were created after the Korean War of 1950-1953 and several families were separated as a result of the division. A woman, aged 92, told the reporters that she will see her son for the first time after the war, over 65 years. The two countries are technically still at war.

The two Koreas organise reunion events in peaceful times with 20 such events having being organised in the last 18 years. This is however, the first such event in the last three years.

The South Korean relatives bring gifts like clothes and medicine among others for their poorer relatives from the North.

A 76-year old Lee Soo-nam, about to meet her elder brother, told Reuters “I've prepared for him some household medicine including digester and headache pills, nutritional supplements as well as some daily necessaries."

The meetings represent a welcome development between for the two nations, and especially for North Korea, whose leader met the South Korean President along with the US President Donald Trump to discuss de-escalation of tensions among the countries. North Korea is among the poorest nations in the world.


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