Two Koreas hold 1st family reunion in 3 years

South Korean Kim Sung-yun (L), 96, talks with her sister Kim Seok-ryeo (2nd L), 80, and family members from DPRK during their family reunion at the Mount Kumgang resort in DPRK, February 20, 2014. [Photo/Agencies]

SEOUL - The first reunion of families separated by the Korean War in more than three years began on Thursday afternoon in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK)'s Mount Kumgang resort.

Family reunion, first step toward peace on Korean Peninsula

The 82 elderly South Koreans, four-fifths of them over 80, reunited with 178 of their long-lost relatives from the DPRK for the first time in six decades. The mass gathering, the first event for the three-day reunion, began at 3 pm local time as scheduled, according to Seoul's Unification Ministry.

At 8:20 am, the frail South Koreans, including two in ambulances and 19 in wheelchairs due to health problems, left a resort hotel in the country's east coastal city of Sokcho, where they received medical check-up and training on the dos and don'ts during their stay in the DPRK the previous day.

The South Korean participants crossed the inter-Korean border by bus at 11:04 am and arrived at the reunion venue at about 1 pm, according to a pool report published by the ministry.

A convoy of 10 coaches, carrying the South Korean elderly accompanied by 58 family members for physical support, drove some 80 kms along the snow-covered roadside, trailed by three ambulances, five passenger cars as escorts and one truck.

South Korean standers-by waved to the old men and women heading to the scenic Mount Kumgang resort where they will meet their DPRK relatives separated for six decades by the three-year Korean War that ended in armistice in 1953.

After the first group meeting that lasts for two hours through 5 p.m., families from the two Koreas will participate in the welcoming dinner hosted by the DPRK for two hours from 7 pm.