Hundreds of S. Koreans leave for N.K. for family reunions

SOKCHO, South Korea, Oct. 20 (Yonhap) -- Hundreds of South Korean family members left for North Korea Tuesday for their first reunions with North Korean relatives they have not seen for more than 60 years due to prolonged inter-Korean tension. The first batch of about 390 members of 96 South Korean families were to arrive at a resort on Mount Kumgang on the North's east coast to have the reunions with their beloved ones in North Korea from Tuesday to Thursday. The reunions, the first since February 2014, are the result of the landmark deal South and North Korea reached on Aug. 25 to ease military tension and resume the reunions for families separated by the 1950-53 Korean War. Inter-Korean relations underwent a dramatic turn this year as the inter-Korean deal materialized following heightened tension over a landmine blast that maimed two South Korean soldiers in early August near the border blamed on the North. The group of South Korean families will reunite with their North Korean relatives six times at the resort on the North's scenic mountain, about a half-hour drive from the South's east coastal city of Sokcho. The issue of the separated families is one of the most pressing humanitarian matters as most of the surviving family members are in their 80s and older. About half of the estimated 129,700 applicants for the family reunions have died. As more separated family members have passed away, finding parent-child relations and husband-wife ones has become rarer. For the upcoming event, most of the separated families are looking for their siblings or close relatives. The feasibility of the reunions remained in doubt until the last minute due to the possibility of North Korea launching a long-range rocket. The North has a track record of unilaterally delaying scheduled reunion events, including one in September 2013. North Korea forwent such provocative acts on the 70th anniversary of the founding of its ruling Workers' Party, which fell on Oct. 10. Since the first historic inter-Korean summit in 2000, the two Koreas have held 19 rounds of face-to-face family reunion events. Seven rounds of video-based reunions also have been held. Only some 18,800 family members from both sides have been allowed to have face-to-face reunions so far. The Tuesday-Thursday event will be followed by another round of reunions involving some 250 South Koreans of 90 families from Saturday to Monday at the North Korean resort.