After a long, agonising wait of 60 years, North Korea’s Oh Se-In, 83, met his wife Lee Soon-Kyu, 85 at the North Korean resort of Mount Kumgand.
There were tears of joy, memories being traded and an overall sense of happiness tinged with sorrow. Lee had been married to Oh In-se for only seven months and was five months pregnant when the Korean War erupted in 1950. Oh disappeared into the conflict, ending up in the North when the war was halted three years. They hadn’t seen each other since then. That was until Tuesday.
Oh Se-In’s story is not his alone. On Tuesday, hundreds of South Koreans were reunited with their loved ones from across the border -- North Korea -- after a long, long wait of 60 years.
The scenes were heart breaking. Loved ones were trying to find a way to break the ice. After all, what do you say to your daughter, or son, or husband or any family member whom you haven’t met for 60 years?
All the family members got two hours of time together, but they were advised by officials to avoid topics like the living standards and politics of the North.
Among the other emotional scenes at the resort was the reunion of North Korean father Chae Hoon-Shik who met his South Korean son Chae Hee-Yang and their tears would not stop flowing as the duo had finally met after more then 60-years apart
Each family that was reunited for a short period of time had their own share of tears and laughter.
The reunions, the first since February of last year, are a poignant yet bitter reminder that the KoreanPeninsula is still in a technical state of war because the 1950-53 fighting ended with an armistice, not a peace treaty. The Koreas bar ordinary citizens from visiting relatives living on the other side of the border and even from exchanging letters, phone calls and emails without permission.
Korea was split in two following the end of the Korean War in 1953, in which more than 1 million civilians and hundreds of thousands of troops died.
Photographs: Korea Press Photographers' Association via Getty Images
