Separated Families Hope for More Family Reunions

The 100 people of the Democratic Peoples' Republic of Korea (DPRK), who will say good-bye to their South Korean relatives Friday morning, hope that improving inter-Korean ties will bring them a bright future for more family reunions.

Thursday is the last day for the DPRK separated family members,who arrived here Tuesday for a three-day family reunions with their South Korean relatives, to share the joy of brief family reunions in Seoul.

With just one day left before returning to Pyongyang Friday morning, the DPRK people kept exchanging family stories and promised to see each other again, but broke in tears once again as the question was left unanswered.

The Sheraton Walker Hill Hotel where they stay was bustling with South Koreans who eagerly wanted to meet their DPRK relatives but were excluded from the list restricted by Seoul and Pyongyang.

A large number of South Koreans who came from the DPRK five decades ago visited the hotel to contact the visiting DPRK people,asking them help confirm whether their families and relatives in the DPRK are still alive.

Some reunited families held parties for those who will celebrate their birthdays in a few days.

Kim Ok-bae, 62, a DPRK professor, was thrown a birthday party at the hotel by her 88-year-old mother and other families in South Korea.

Some of the visiting DPRK people expressed regrets that they were not able to see all their family members or relatives because of restrictive regulations.

"I wanted to see all my relatives here in South Korea but I couldn't do so. I feel as if time passed by like lightning,'' said 70-year-old Oh Kyong-su.

Yang Han-sang, 69, may be the saddest man of the 100 DPRK people as he was the only one who failed to meet his 87-year-old mother, who is very sick in Sokyo-dong in Seoul, some 40-minute

ride to the hotel.

"I shall be enormously deplored if I return to North Korea without even seeing my mother in five decades,'' Yang said.

Ha Kyong, 74, who met three sons in South Korea, burst into tears when his sons wished him good health.

"Korea is the only country in the world in which families are barred from meeting each other for decades," he said in tears.

Thursday night, South Korean Unification Minister Park Jae-kyu hosted a farewell dinner for the DPRK separated family members at Seoul Hyatt Hotel.



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