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Korean Families Prepare to Reunite at North Korean Resort

by VOA News

   Dozens of elderly Koreans gathered Sunday at the South Korean border
   with North Korea to be reunited with family members from the North as
   part of the first round of reunions in more than three years.

   More than 57,000 South Koreans had registered for a chance to meet
   relatives in North Korea, but only 93 were chosen for the latest round
   of brief meetings, which are set to begin Monday in North Korea's Mount
   Kumgang tourist resort. Only 88 North Koreans have been allowed to
   participate.

   Over three days, the participants will have six face-to-face meetings
   with their North Korean relatives -- under the watchful eyes of North
   Korean agents.

   There have been just 20 reunions since 2000, the last one took place in
   October 2015.

   Millions of Korean families were divided by the 1950-53 Korean War.
   After more than 50 years of separation, many of those waiting to be
   reunited with their loved ones have died. Most of those surviving are
   over 80 years of age.

   Among those most desperate to reconnect with family are
   Korean-Americans who have never been included in the reunion process.

   Chahee Stanfield, the executive director of the National Coalition of
   Divided Families, told VOA that in 2001, there were 100,000
   Korean-Americans with divided families living in the U.S. "But most of
   them have passed away," Stanfield said.

   Stanfield said the Korean-American community had high hopes for the
   summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim
   Jong Un in June. She said the community felt that was their "last
   chance for the reunion."

   "We prayed for the summit with our whole hearts," she said. But "it all
   turned out to be about the remains of the (American) soldiers, which is
   also very important, but it was never about us," she added.

   Stanfield said after the summit, U.S. officials asked the South Koreans
   to include the Korean-Americans in the negotiations. South Korean
   officials tried to have Korean-American families included in Monday's
   reunion, but Pyongyang rejected the notion.

   "We just don't know what's going on... we don't even know where we
   stand now," she said.

   Ira Mellman contributed to this report.