Time running out for Korean separated families despite hopes for reunion
- 6 years ago
While the talks in town are all about the North Korea- U.S. summit... the leaders of the two Koreas are stepping efforts to implement the inter-Korean summit agreement.
The two sides have agreed to resume the long-halted separated family reunions and with recent, rapid developments in relations with North Korea, there's growing hope that these reunions may happen.
But those families are growing old... and chances are becoming slimmer that *all of them will get to embrace their parents, siblings, or relatives.
To tell us more about this, our Cha Sang-mi joins us in the studio today.
Hello Sang-mi.
Hi Ji-yoon.
So tell us a bit more about these families and their situation.
Yes, Ji-yoon. Last week I actually went to meet a person who was separated from his family during the Korean War.
This is his story.
========================
Kim Kyung-jae is 87 years old.
"This is my hometown Sinchang."
He left his North Korean hometown when he was 19 to flee to the south as soon as the Korean War broke out,... leaving behind his parents, grandparents, and his younger sister.
Nearly seven decades later, Kim says the latest, rare diplomatic breakthrough between Seoul and Pyongyang does not excite him too much.
“My parents told me and my brothers to come back in 3 or 4 months. They would stay with my grandparents who refused to leave the North. Back then it was impossible to even think of leaving behind your elderly parents.
"Just across the river is North Korea -- so close, but distant at the same time. Separated families who had left their kin behind say they had promised their families they would be back together in a few weeks after the war is over, never knowing it would end in a truce, leaving the Korean Peninsula, and those families, divided."
Over the last 68 years, the two Koreas have put together 20 reunions for these war-separated families so far, but getting to attend one is extremely unlikely... with only a hundred picked from each side.
And even those small reunions were halted in 2015, when inter-Korean relations took a nosedive.
"We're all going to die in 4 or 5 years. The government should no longer hold these one-off event-like reunions. Instead they should help those who remain find out whether their kin are alive or dead. So few people get to meet their families through thesee reunions. It's harder than winning the lottery."
The two sides have agreed to resume the long-halted separated family reunions and with recent, rapid developments in relations with North Korea, there's growing hope that these reunions may happen.
But those families are growing old... and chances are becoming slimmer that *all of them will get to embrace their parents, siblings, or relatives.
To tell us more about this, our Cha Sang-mi joins us in the studio today.
Hello Sang-mi.
Hi Ji-yoon.
So tell us a bit more about these families and their situation.
Yes, Ji-yoon. Last week I actually went to meet a person who was separated from his family during the Korean War.
This is his story.
========================
Kim Kyung-jae is 87 years old.
"This is my hometown Sinchang."
He left his North Korean hometown when he was 19 to flee to the south as soon as the Korean War broke out,... leaving behind his parents, grandparents, and his younger sister.
Nearly seven decades later, Kim says the latest, rare diplomatic breakthrough between Seoul and Pyongyang does not excite him too much.
“My parents told me and my brothers to come back in 3 or 4 months. They would stay with my grandparents who refused to leave the North. Back then it was impossible to even think of leaving behind your elderly parents.
"Just across the river is North Korea -- so close, but distant at the same time. Separated families who had left their kin behind say they had promised their families they would be back together in a few weeks after the war is over, never knowing it would end in a truce, leaving the Korean Peninsula, and those families, divided."
Over the last 68 years, the two Koreas have put together 20 reunions for these war-separated families so far, but getting to attend one is extremely unlikely... with only a hundred picked from each side.
And even those small reunions were halted in 2015, when inter-Korean relations took a nosedive.
"We're all going to die in 4 or 5 years. The government should no longer hold these one-off event-like reunions. Instead they should help those who remain find out whether their kin are alive or dead. So few people get to meet their families through thesee reunions. It's harder than winning the lottery."