War-torn families of two Koreas spending time together through private sessions, joint reunion
Arirang News
2018-08-21
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남북 이산가족, 3시간 개별시간과 오찬... 단체상봉 진행 중
Starting with those reunions, they are now in their second day.
Families from South and North, torn apart by the Korean War in the early 1950s are together for the first time in almost 70 years.
Heartwrenching scenes at North Korea's Mount Kumgang for these very elderly men and women... who know they'll probably never see each other again.
Today, though they're getting a little more private time together.
Our Oh Jung-hee is covering the event for us this week and she joins us now.
Jung-hee, what have we seen so far today, and what's left on the schedule for this round of reunions?
Devin, it's the day two of the three-day-long family reunions.
And today, the families from South Korea get to spend 5 hours in total with their North Korean relatives.
They've already spent three hours together this morning.
At 10 this morning, the families gathered at the Oekumgang Hotel located within the Mount Kumgang resort, with hands full of presents to give each other,... and spent three hours just by themselves in assigned rooms,... eating lunch together for the last one hour.
This session took place behind closed doors, so it wasn't open to the joint press pool there and therefore, we don't have footage of it.
But it's pretty apparent that the families had a chance to speak more candidly with each other than at the public reunions... because they were away from the eyes of South and North Korean officials.
It's the first time in history at these inter-Korean reunions that families have had the chance to share a meal just by themselves.
In the past they always had to eat at a joint luncheon,... but for this round, the South and North Korean authorities agreed allow a private lunch to give them an extra hour to themselves, making it three hours in private rather than two.
Right now they're in a joint session that started at 3 PM and will go until 5.
We'll be able to hear more about it from the joint press pool there at Mount Kumgang, and I'll be bringing you more updates in our later newscasts.
Devin.
Starting with those reunions, they are now in their second day.
Families from South and North, torn apart by the Korean War in the early 1950s are together for the first time in almost 70 years.
Heartwrenching scenes at North Korea's Mount Kumgang for these very elderly men and women... who know they'll probably never see each other again.
Today, though they're getting a little more private time together.
Our Oh Jung-hee is covering the event for us this week and she joins us now.
Jung-hee, what have we seen so far today, and what's left on the schedule for this round of reunions?
Devin, it's the day two of the three-day-long family reunions.
And today, the families from South Korea get to spend 5 hours in total with their North Korean relatives.
They've already spent three hours together this morning.
At 10 this morning, the families gathered at the Oekumgang Hotel located within the Mount Kumgang resort, with hands full of presents to give each other,... and spent three hours just by themselves in assigned rooms,... eating lunch together for the last one hour.
This session took place behind closed doors, so it wasn't open to the joint press pool there and therefore, we don't have footage of it.
But it's pretty apparent that the families had a chance to speak more candidly with each other than at the public reunions... because they were away from the eyes of South and North Korean officials.
It's the first time in history at these inter-Korean reunions that families have had the chance to share a meal just by themselves.
In the past they always had to eat at a joint luncheon,... but for this round, the South and North Korean authorities agreed allow a private lunch to give them an extra hour to themselves, making it three hours in private rather than two.
Right now they're in a joint session that started at 3 PM and will go until 5.
We'll be able to hear more about it from the joint press pool there at Mount Kumgang, and I'll be bringing you more updates in our later newscasts.
Devin.
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