Going back to the first day of the reunions that took place on Monday... the mothers, fathers, brothers and sisters long-separated from the war... were finally able to kiss, hug and tell each other stories of how they lived all those years without each other.<br />Our Park Ji-won takes us back to that first day. <br /> Eighty nine participants from South Korea crossed the inter-Korean border to the North to meet with their loved ones on Monday, each of them accompanied by one or two people to look after them.<br />However, only 7 people out of nearly 90 participants were there to meet their immediate families, including sons and daughters as well as siblings. <br /> One of them is 89-year old Yoo Gwan-sik. <br />He met his 67-year-old daughter, whom he's never seen before. <br />Yoo said... he didn't even know his wife was pregnant when he decided to escape North Korea temporarily,... or so he thought.<br /><br /> "Father, this is a photo of mother. Mother. Mother."<br /><br />Another story is especially heart-wrenching.<br /><br /> "Are you Sang-chul? You are Sang-chul You are You are Sang-chul "<br /><br /> 92-year old Lee Geum-seom met her 71-year old son.<br />She burst into tears seeing her son, who grew up in North Korea.<br />On the eve of this long awaited moment, at a press interview, Lee said she'd like to ask how he was raised and by whom.<br /> Then there's 99-year old Han Shin-ja who met the two daughters she left behind in North Korea.<br />She thought she'd be reunited with them in two to three months during the war.<br />With tears in her eyes, Han wouldn't let go of their hands through the entire meeting. <br /> Kim Gwang-ho, who's 80 years old, met his younger brother, who is 78-years-old.<br />Kim had seven siblings in the North when he headed down to South Korea in 1950.<br />He said he thought he could reunite with them in just a week, but that week turned into 68 years. <br /> Another South Korean who met her siblings is 82-year old Bae Soon-he.<br />She met her sisters, for the first time in decades, holding on every precious second they were together.<br /> Some of these relatives were separated because a member of their family was taken prisoner by the North during the war or was abducted by the regime.<br />That's true in six cases.<br />Ahead of Monday's long awaited reunion, Seoul asked Pyongyang about 50 people in particular, as they were either POWs or had been otherwise abducted.<br />The North confirmed the whereabouts of 21 of them -- 13 of them dead, eight alive.<br />Two of those still living were unable to attend the reunion because of their advanced age.<br />So, the six who were able to move have joined these reunions.<br /> Between 2000 and 2015, South Korea inquired the North about 350 POWs and abductees -- 54 of whom eventually got to meet their families.<br />Park Ji-won, Arirang News. <br />
