Seoul - A guilt-stricken Korean father begs forgiveness from a long-lost daughter. A woman in her 90s struggles to recognise a son. Brothers drop grudges held for a half century.
A day after the world watched poignant scenes as Korean relatives met for the first time in 50 years, the reunited families withdrew yesterday behind closed doors to resume lost lives in private. In a poem entitled Grief, a North Korean poet mourned the death of the mother he left behind as a schoolboy to join Kim Ilsung's communist army.
This week's four-day reunions involve groups of 100 from each Korea who have flown to Pyongyang and Seoul. "Today we cry, tomorrow we'll talk," said one elderly North Korean man as he met his family. "It takes less than an hour to get here yet we weren't able to meet for 50 years."