Heartwarming news for scores of Korean War-separated families who are setting off soon to reunite with their long-lost families in North Korea. <br />But for most elderly people, meeting their relatives one last time is nothing more than a dream. <br />And sadly for many of those in ' Abai Village', it's a dream that will never come true.<br />Our Cha Sang-mi is in the city of Sokcho near the inter-Korean border to hear their stories. <br /> 68 years have passed since the Korean War broke out, tearing people away from their families and leaving them separated in two different countries.<br />Many people from the North fled during the war to a place on the east coast just over the border... called Cheongho-dong.<br /><br /> "However, this place is more widely known as 'Abai Village', which comes from the Hamgyeong-do dialect meaning "an aged father" -- referring to the numerous elderly residents who escaped to the area."<br /><br /> Abai Village is only around 50 kilometers away from the Demilitarized Zone.<br />It's also close to Mt. Kumgang where the reunions of separated families will take place next week. <br /> According to the people in town, Abai was a sandy beach back in the 1950's, not a place where people lived. But that first winter they pitched tents for themselves and endured the cold.<br />They say there's a reason why they chose this place in particular.<br /><br /> "We stayed here near the border so that we could go back home when the war was over. Most of these people here, though -- the first generation of refugees -- are dead now. You see the red line?"<br /><br /> Hundreds of the displaced settled down in Abai Village, not knowing that the war would end in a truce and separate them from their families forever.<br /><br /> Kim says they once had hope, but as they grew older, their memories of their hometown also began to fade.<br />A ninety-three-year-old woman I met near the parking lot, says she doesn't want to apply for the reunions. It would just make things complicated.<br /><br /> "I fled Sinchang when I was 22. We left behind a three-year-old daughter. Do I want to register for a reunion? No, it's meaningless now."<br /><br /> Lee seemed reluctant to even think of the baby girl... whose memory she had buried deep down.<br />The local public hall where the elderly refugees used to gather is now empty.<br />Before long, it seems, Abai Village will be no more... its people having lived out their lives in a place they never expected to go.<br />Cha Sang-mi, Arirang News, Sokcho. <br />
