Hundreds more pin their final hope on the waiting list, as they get old

The 88-year-old man from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea stretched his arms out the bus window to grasp the hands of his sister from the Republic of Korea one final time before the end of rare reunions on Tuesday between hundreds of family members separated for decades by war and politics.

"Brother, brother, my brother! How can I live without you?" the sister, Park Jong-soon, cried out from the parking lot at the DPRK's scenic Diamond Mountain resort, according to ROK media pool reports.

Wiping away tears, Park Jong-song shouted back: "Stay healthy! We'll see each other again if we're healthy."

That may be wishful thinking. The brief, painfully emotional reunions that ended on Tuesday - the first since late 2010 - are unlikely to be repeated anytime soon.

A group of 357 elderly people from the ROK met their long-lost relatives from the DPRK in the Mount Kumgang resort for three days through Tuesday, after the first group of 82 ROK applicants ended the three-day reunion on Saturday.

Hundreds of Koreans met with their family members, separated since the Korean War (1950-53), for a total of 11 hours during their stay at the mountain resort.

More than 70,000 ROK citizens have been on the waiting list for the family reunions since 1988. Because of their age, many applicants face the possibility of passing away before they can attend a reunion.

ROK President Park Geun-hye said in a televised news conference marking the first anniversary of her inauguration that she will launch a preparatory committee under her direct control for reunification with the DPRK. She vowed to expand civilian exchanges with the northern neighbor.

The two sets of reunions that started last week, involving about 750 people from both countries, almost didn't happen. The DPRK had threatened to cancel the reunions to protest annual US-ROK military drills that began on Monday, but it allowed the reunions to go forward after high-level talks with Seoul.

Both sides bar ordinary citizens from visiting each other or even exchanging phone calls, letters or e-mails. About 22,000 Koreans have had brief reunions - 18,000 in person and the others by video - during a previous era of rapprochement.

The reunions come amid some signs of easing animosity between the two neighbors, which were threatening each other with war a year ago.

The ROK has long called for expanding the number of people who can participate in the reunions and for holding them on a regular basis.

It uses a computerized lottery system to pick participants. Because the reunions are held so infrequently, many of those who have applied for a chance to participate have died before getting the chance to attend.

"We view family reunions as a humanitarian issue, but for the DPRK it's also a political issue," said Chang Yong-seok of the Institute for Peace and Unification Studies at Seoul National University.

Under an ROK government regulation that ended six years ago, Seoul supplied Pyongyang with rice and fertilizer shipments for arranging the family reunions.

But now Seoul is unlikely to approve big aid shipments for more reunions unless the DPRK also takes serious nuclear disarmament measures, analysts say - something Pyongyang seems unwilling to do.

AP - Xinhua

People from the Republic of Korea hold hands with their Democratic People's Republic of Korea's family members (in bus) as they bid farewell after their three-day temporary family reunion at the Mount Kumgang resort in the DPRK, on Tuesday. Lee Ji-eun / Yonhap News Agence via Reuters

(China Daily 02/26/2014 page11)