SEOUL: Around 80 elderly South Koreans met privately yesterday with North Korean relatives they hadn’t seen for 60 years, but several complained the moment was tainted by political indoctrination.
On the second day of the first North-South reunion for more than three years of families divided by the Korean War, the relatives were allowed to meet on their own, without the TV cameras that intruded on their first emotional gathering the day before.
The event, held at a mountain resort in North Korea, was only secured after intense North-South negotiations, and has been seen by many as a possible first step towards improved inter-Korean cooperation.
It followed a rare concession from North Korea, which had originally threatened to cancel if the South and the US pushed ahead with annual joint military drills that begin on Monday.
In an apparent goodwill gesture, Seoul yesterday approved the shipment by two private aid groups for close to $1.0m worth of tuberculosis medicine and powdered milk to North Korea.
After the private meetings, a number of the South Korean participants complained that their Northern relatives had felt obliged to deliver political sermons parroting Pyongyang’s official propaganda. “I was a bit worn out due to all their political comments,” said Choi Don-Myung after the three-hour meeting with her brother and his daughter.
Choi also voiced surprise that they had refused to accept the gifts she had brought, saying they had all they needed.
Kim Dong-Bin, 81, said the two sisters he had come to see spent a substantial amount of time condemning the continued presence of US troops in South Korea.
“They heaped abuse on the US troops and said re-unification was only possible if they pull out,” Kim said.
The 82 South Korean participants, with an average age of 84 and some so frail they had to be moved by ambulance, arrived at the resort midday Thursday after crossing the heavily-militarised border in a convoy of 10 buses.
After a brief lunch, they were led into a banquet hall where they first came face-to-face with the 180 North Korean relatives they had applied to see.
Some simply embraced and sobbed, while others stared and stroked each other’s faces, seemingly unable to believe that they were in the same room.
Photos were exchanged and lovingly pored over, including old black-and-white ones of the family. AFP
