Reunited Koreans bid ‘final goodbyes’

Mother and son South Korean Lee Keum-seom, 92, weeps as she meets with her North Korean son Ri Sang Chol, 71, during the Separated Family Reunion Meeting at the Diamond Mountain resort in Pyongyang. AP

SEOUL — Hundreds of elderly Koreans tearfully said their final goodbyes Wednesday at the end of the first round of rare reunions between relatives separated by the 1950-53 Korean War.

About 200 South Koreans and their family members will return to the South later Wednesday after the end of three days of meetings with North Korean relatives at a resort. Another 337 South Koreans will participate in a second round of reunions from Friday to Sunday.

The first set of reunions created heart-wrenching images of relatives weeping, embracing and caressing each other in a rush of emotions in what’s likely to be the last time they’ll see each other before they die. Many of the South Korean participants were war refugees who reunited with the siblings or infant children they left behind, many of whom are now into their 70s.

Meanwhile, the South Korea is considering deleting its reference to North Korea’s military as “our enemy” in its defense white paper to be published later this year, multiple government sources in Seoul said Wednesday.

The move is in line with the April inter-Korean summit agreement to halt “all hostile acts” against each other, seek to alleviate tensions and “practically eliminate the danger of war.” AP and Yonhap