Time running out for Korean separarted families despite hopes for reunion
- 6 years ago
The leaders of the two Koreas agreed to resume long-halted separated family reunions at their recent summit at the inter-Korean border.
Peace can come, but time ticks on.
Those families are growing old and chances are slim all of them will get to embrace their parents, siblings, or relatives.
Our Cha Sang-mi went to meet one of the families.
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.
As of April this year, among over one hundred-and-31-thousand registered, fewer than half were still alive to meet their family members in the North.
Among them, nearly 64 percent were over 80 years old; if we include those older than 70, that's a whopping 86 percent of the total.
"The number of those registered who had passed away began to outnumber those who were still alive beginning in 2016. On average, we had seen roughly 400 of them pass away per month. More recently, it's been 700, sometimes up to a thousand. Time is running out."
The Korean Red Cross understands the plight of the separated families, but it can't act on its own -- only the inter-Korean authorities can... and through an agreement.
In the wake of the April 27th Panmunjom Declaration announced by the leaders of the two Koreas at the 2018 Inter-Korean Summit, Seoul and Pyongyang have, in principle, agreed to hold another round reunions for Korean War-separated families on August 15th.
If all goes as planned, the Red Cross talks to arrange those reunions will be held on the 22nd of this month.
"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 lot
Peace can come, but time ticks on.
Those families are growing old and chances are slim all of them will get to embrace their parents, siblings, or relatives.
Our Cha Sang-mi went to meet one of the families.
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.
As of April this year, among over one hundred-and-31-thousand registered, fewer than half were still alive to meet their family members in the North.
Among them, nearly 64 percent were over 80 years old; if we include those older than 70, that's a whopping 86 percent of the total.
"The number of those registered who had passed away began to outnumber those who were still alive beginning in 2016. On average, we had seen roughly 400 of them pass away per month. More recently, it's been 700, sometimes up to a thousand. Time is running out."
The Korean Red Cross understands the plight of the separated families, but it can't act on its own -- only the inter-Korean authorities can... and through an agreement.
In the wake of the April 27th Panmunjom Declaration announced by the leaders of the two Koreas at the 2018 Inter-Korean Summit, Seoul and Pyongyang have, in principle, agreed to hold another round reunions for Korean War-separated families on August 15th.
If all goes as planned, the Red Cross talks to arrange those reunions will be held on the 22nd of this month.
"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 lot