YONHAP NEWS

Separated Koreans set for farewell after temporary reunions

MOUNT KUMGANG, North Korea, Sept. 28 (Yonhap) -- After three days of tearful reunions, hundreds of South and North Koreans living on opposite sides of the tightly-controlled border for decades were to bid farewell to each other on Monday.

Ninety-seven selected South Koreans, mostly in their 70s or older, had a series of group and private meetings with their long-lost families in North Korea on the weekend at the Mount Kumgang resort on the communist nation's east coast.

The government-arranged reunions between families separated by the 1950-53 Korean War were the first of their kind under the conservative South Korean administration of President Lee Myung-bak, which has taken a tougher line on the nuclear-armed North despite criticism that it is undoing reconciliatory measures of the two previous liberal governments.

   On Monday, the families held one-hour farewell reunions before the South Koreans head back to the South later in the day, according to pool reports.

   The three-day reunions will be followed by another round of similar meetings to be held at the resort from Monday till Thursday. For the second segment of the event, 449 South Koreans are scheduled to gather in the eastern coastal city of Sokcho at 2 p.m. on Monday to leave together for Mount Kumgang by bus.

   Millions of Koreans remain separated since the Korean War with no information on the fate of their families, as they are not allowed cross-border communication and travel without government approval.

   The 546 South Korean families participating in the reunions this time, organized after a two-year hiatus, were selected through a computer lottery.

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