One of the biggest stories of the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea was the participation of North Korea and the friendly tone struck by the two countries. This optimistic move has been raising hopes of the Korean public, especially those with loved ones in the North.
The last separated family reunion took place in October 2015 before inter-Korean relations were frozen... Will the inter-Korean talks this month possibly lead to the resumption of reunions?
This is the Korea National Red Cross headquarters in Seoul, which mandates programs dedicated to resolving humanitarian challenges regarding the 38th Parallel.
It also proposed a separate round of indirect family reunions via video conference to restore family links between separated families.
But unfortunately, no video meeting has taken place since 2007. As a result, this place is now filled only with posts hoping for the next reunion to take place as soon as possible.
Jointly produced by the Ministry of Unification and the Red Cross from 2005, the library has over 19,000 video messages from separated family members, greeting families in the North and sharing memories of hometowns and relatives.
"Because the surviving separated family-members are very old, we have been producing 10 minute video messages for them to keep a record of their voices and appearances.
It allows them to send a message to their family in the North, which one day we hope to deliver."
According to the Integrated Information System for Separated Families, some 130 thousand separated family members have applied for reunions since 1988, with less than half surviving today.
Also, 3,800 of them died last year alone.
With the first round of displaced people visiting their homeland in September 1985, only 4,185 or 3.2% of all separated family members have been reunited through 21 meetings. Once again, no meeting has taken place since 2015.
The Moon Jae-in administration has constantly been calling for the resumption of family reunions, even during the high-level talks with the North on January 9th, which were held to encourage its participation in the Winter Olympics.
However, Pyongyang demanded a precondition, which was the return of 12 waitresses from a North Korean government-run restaurant in China that entered South Korea in 2016.
"We consider the issue of separated families a humanitarian matter, but North Korean authorities regard it as a political one.
Therefore, I believe we should demand the resumption of family reunions as a precondition for us to expand exchanges and support the North."
We caught up with Jeon Jin-seong , a displaced person residing in ( , ) Bupyeong-gu, Incheon. 90 years old this year, he’s from Dancheon, Hamgyeongnam-do Province ( , ) and came to the South 69 years ago when he was 22 years old.
"My parents didn’t dare leave but still urged me to escape and stay alive.
I thought I’d able to go back in 2 to 3 days, which ended up being nearly 7 decades.
Contrary to what he believ
