Intro

This week, 89 South Koreans, who had been separated from family by the wall dividing North and South Korea, were able to meet their families in the North for the first time. This reunion occurred after 65 years of physical separation without any communication: no letter, phone calls, or emails. They had 11, short hours together over 3 days.

56,000 South Koreans applied for the reunion. 89 people were given permission. The number gives testimony to the longing for relationship. All they had, prior to the meeting, were some pictures and distant memories.

They made comments like, “It was like heaven. I was stunned with disbelief. Could this be happening?” One person said that it had been so long and she had just blocked her brother from her memory, but when he approached her, she could see her father in his face and then she knew it was her brother.