Anchor: About 200 families from the two Koreas will reunite at Mount Geumgang from October 20 to 26. Families from the South will head to the scenic mountain resort on October 20th to meet with 96 North Korean applicants and families for the first round of reunions. The second round of reunions starting on October 24 will reunite 90 applicants from South Korea with their loved ones.
Our Eunji Kim spoke with a few that will participate in the reunions.
 
Report: On October 24, Mr. Jeon Hyung-gak will meet family members he has longed to see for more than six decades.
 
Now 83 years old, as a teenager in the 1950s he waited for his family until the last minute before boarding a Busan-bound boat alone. All but his younger sister, Gye-ok, have passed away over the years. Mr. Jeon will meet Gye-ok and his niece, survived by his younger brother, at the reunions.
 
[Soundbite: Jeon Hyun-gak, born South Hamgyeong Province in 1932 (Korean)]
“I cannot say how glad I am. I always wondered if I could meet them before I die… It’s regrettable that my parents passed away.”
“There is no information about my father or my mother in the documents. But if they’re living, my father would be 111 years old and my mother 105 years old. I doubt they are alive. I think the documents would say something if they were living.”
 
Regardless, Mr. Jeon is thankful that his sister has survived all these years. Being able to finally see, touch and speak with his family is a wonder to Mr. Jeon. He chuckles talking about the gifts he is preparing to give to his family.
 
[Soundbite: Jeon Hyun-gak, born South Hamgyeong Province in 1932 (Korean)]
“[I’ll take] things like watches, clothing and medicine. I’m thinking about bringing other things. Small things. I grow ginseng so I’m thinking about taking some. (chuckles) And other stuff like nail clippers and cosmetic products.”
 
For some, however, the reunions will be yet another sad reality to the 65 years of separation.
 
Seventy-year-old Ms. Park Bok-nam is one of the 90 South Korean applicants chosen to participate in the second round of the reunions. However, she is not exactly sure who she will meet.
 
[Soundbite: Park Bok-nam, born in Gangwon Province in 1945 (Korean)]
“I filed the application in 2000 looking for my mother, two older brothers and a younger brother…. But I found that those I was looking for have all passed away.”
 
Ms. Park will meet two family members who have requested to see her in the North. She says they could be either cousins or nephews.
 
[Soundbite: Park Bok-nam, born in Gangwon Province in 1945 (Korean)]
“My heart aches because I cannot see my brothers that I wanted to meet. It would have been nice if I could have just heard that they are alive…”
 
According to documents sent by the Korean Red Cross, Ms. Park’s eldest brother passed away in 2008 and her mother in 1997. Ms. Park’s other two brothers are said to have passed away during the war in 1950 and 1951.
 
[Soundbite: Park Bok-nam, born in Gangwon Province in 1945 (Korean)]
“I wanted to ask how they lived. How did you live, ask how they lived. I thought at least one would be alive.”
“[At first] it felt so good that I will go and meet them… But now that it says they are all gone, I would cry on and off, wondering if it’s true. Whether it’s true that they are really gone…. So far, I keep wondering if they actually have died.”
 
Ms. Park says she now awaits the stories she will hear from her family members in the North. Once she hears everything, Ms. Park thinks she can resign herself and just live.
 
[Soundbite: Park Bok-nam, born in Gangwon Province in 1945 (Korean)]
“I’m already in this situation, but I hope there won’t be any situation like [mine] from now on. Heartbreaking situations. It’s very sad and heartbreaking, just thinking about it. So I hope there will be nobody separated from their families like this. From now on. In the world… (sniffles)”
 
From 1998 until September 30, this year, almost 130-thousand South Koreans have registered as having family members in the North on the Integrated Information System for Separated Families. About 49 percent have passed away and roughly 54 percent among those surviving are aged 80 or older.   
Kim Eunji, KBS World Radio News.