Family reunions: war-torn families to part ways on Wednesday
- 6 years ago
It's the third and final day of the first round of reunions for Korean families who've been torn apart due to more than six decades of war and division on the Korean peninsula.
They first met on Monday and the time to say goodbye -- once again and almost certainly forever -- is looming.
Let's go live to our Oh Jung-hee, who's covering the story for us.
Jung-hee, it's a sad day for all the families as they have to go through a second mentally tough separation,.... but what do we expect to see today?
Mark, as you've mentioned, today's the last day of the three-day-long family reunions... and the families have been feeling sad about the fact that they have to part again, after such a short time together.
Right now, we're expecting the South Korean families to be eating breakfast by themselves... and then they'll pack their bags ahead of their departure in the afternoon.
Starting from 10AM, Korea time, (in around three hours from now) the South and North Korean families will be meeting each other for three hours, also eating lunch together during the last one hour.
There was actually a change in schedule about this part of the reunion -- the authorities of the two Koreas agreed to give them one more hour together than originally planned.
The families were to be together for two hours only, but upon South Korea's request, three hours were given to them... and that increases the total number of meeting hours from 11 to 12.
Just to give you a recap of how things went yesterday,...
On Tuesday, the South and North Korean families spent five hours together -- they had three hours of private time in the morning,... and met once more for two hours at a group session in the afternoon.
The overall atmosphere was much brighter than at the first group reunion on Monday and the families were eager to make the most out of the session -- chatting and laughing... and taking pictures.
But as they drew near to the end of the day's sessions, a lot of them teared up... and said the time they had was just too short.
Mark, two out of the three days of the family reunions have gone by so quickly... and to the people meeting their loved ones up there at Mount Kumgang -- they must feel that even more than we do.
After their last session together today,... South and North Korean families will be saying a heartbreaking final goodbye to each other,... as the South Koreans head back home in the early afternoon.
Mark.
They first met on Monday and the time to say goodbye -- once again and almost certainly forever -- is looming.
Let's go live to our Oh Jung-hee, who's covering the story for us.
Jung-hee, it's a sad day for all the families as they have to go through a second mentally tough separation,.... but what do we expect to see today?
Mark, as you've mentioned, today's the last day of the three-day-long family reunions... and the families have been feeling sad about the fact that they have to part again, after such a short time together.
Right now, we're expecting the South Korean families to be eating breakfast by themselves... and then they'll pack their bags ahead of their departure in the afternoon.
Starting from 10AM, Korea time, (in around three hours from now) the South and North Korean families will be meeting each other for three hours, also eating lunch together during the last one hour.
There was actually a change in schedule about this part of the reunion -- the authorities of the two Koreas agreed to give them one more hour together than originally planned.
The families were to be together for two hours only, but upon South Korea's request, three hours were given to them... and that increases the total number of meeting hours from 11 to 12.
Just to give you a recap of how things went yesterday,...
On Tuesday, the South and North Korean families spent five hours together -- they had three hours of private time in the morning,... and met once more for two hours at a group session in the afternoon.
The overall atmosphere was much brighter than at the first group reunion on Monday and the families were eager to make the most out of the session -- chatting and laughing... and taking pictures.
But as they drew near to the end of the day's sessions, a lot of them teared up... and said the time they had was just too short.
Mark, two out of the three days of the family reunions have gone by so quickly... and to the people meeting their loved ones up there at Mount Kumgang -- they must feel that even more than we do.
After their last session together today,... South and North Korean families will be saying a heartbreaking final goodbye to each other,... as the South Koreans head back home in the early afternoon.
Mark.