Two Koreas hold separated family reunions amid NK provocations

MOUNT KUMGANG, North Korea, Oct. 25 (Yonhap) -- Hundreds of South Koreans held tearful reunions with their family members in North Korea on Sunday amid tension sparked by the intrusion of a North Korean patrol boat over the demarcation line in the Yellow Sea. The 254 South Koreans, from 90 families, met their North Korean relatives on the second day of the three-day reunions for families separated by the 1950-53 Korean War at a scenic resort on Mount Kumgang in North Korea. The separated families privately met each other in a hotel on early Sunday before having a two-hour luncheon where some sang songs together such as "Our wish is unification." Later, they also met again in a group reunion session. But the reunions came amid newly heightened tension in waters off the Korean Peninsula's west coast. South Korea's military said Sunday its Navy fired five warning rounds at a North Korean boat on Saturday as it crossed the de-facto western maritime border between the two Koreas, widely known as the Northern Limit Line (NLL). Despite the tension, the family reunions wrapped up its second day as scheduled. With eyes full of tears, Lee Keum-suk, a 93-year-old South Korean, sat between her 74-year-old son who resides in North Korea, Han Song-il, and her daughter-in-law during the lunch. "I am happy. I am so happy," Lee said. Koo Sang-yeon, a 98-year-old South Korean, delivered two pairs of Korean traditional shoes embroidered with flowers to his two daughters who live in North Korea -- Song-ok, 71, and Sun-ok, 68. He finally could fulfill the promise that he had made to his daughters 65 years ago to buy them floral shoes. "My father gave the shoes to his daughters at a private meeting earlier in the day," said Koo Gang-suh, his second son from South Korea. "But they did not say anything particular." The family reunions, the first since February 2014, are the outcome of a landmark deal that South and North Korea reached on Aug. 25 to defuse military tension and resume the family reunions. Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn said Sunday that South Korea is making multifacted efforts to make communication and reunions among separated Korean families easier. "The government is making extensive efforts to enable separated families to meet and visit their hometowns regularly," Hwang said in a speech at a sports event for people who hail from now North Korean territory. "Seoul is also doing its utmost to fundamentally solve the issue of separated families." "A son met his father for the first time in 65 years. A couple meets after their hair has turned gray. These kind of sad reunions have touched our people," he said. "We have a serious lack of reunions, and these families aren't getting any younger." There are more than 66,000 South Korean family members separated by the Korean War, which ended in a truce, not a peace treaty, leaving South and North Korea technically at war. sojungpark@yna.co.kr