The divided Koreas on Wednesday resumed the reunions of families separated by war six decades ago, contrasting with the heightening tension along their border after a series of incidents involving gunfire.
The reunion held in the North is the second such event in a week. From Saturday to Monday, more than 430 South Koreans were reunited with 97 North Korean family members who had applied for reunions through the Red Cross channel between the divided countries.
Following a one-day hiatus, more than 130 South Koreans, including 94 applicants, travelled Wednesday to the eastern Mount Kumgang resort just north of the border to be reunited with about 200 family members.
Millions of people were separated by the 1950-53 Korean War that ended in a truce. Only about 20,800 have been reunited either face-to-face or via video since the two countries held a landmark summit in 2000. No means of contact between their citizens are available.
"Mother, you were like a flower, but you've grown so old," Kim Kwang-woon, a 64-year-old North Korean, told his 90-year-old mother from the South, Han Sin-ok, as he caressed her hand.
Han was separated from her son when she briefly went to check directions to a place where they would seek refuge from the onslaught of North Korean troops during the war, according to the family.
Yoo Hae-chan, 91, meeting his son in North Korea for the first time in 60 years, said he was "sorry" for not having looked for him earlier.
"Why did you look for me so late?" said the son, 63-year-old Yoo Yong-il. The father, sobbing and barely speaking, said, "I only thought you were dead."
"Have a look at me as much as you have ever wanted to," Min Soon-gi, a 90-year-old South Korean, told his sister, while Kim Jeong-man, 79, who was reunited with his younger sister, recalled the memories of their days spent together during childhood.
The reunions that began Saturday were the first to be held in a year and came amid deeply frayed inter-Korean relations after the March sinking of a South Korean warship that Seoul blames on Pyongyang.
On Tuesday, the North renewed its denial with a lengthy statement, challenging the South with an offer to provide evidence that it had no role in the sinking, which killed 46 sailors.
In the latest incident exacerbating tension, a North Korean fishing boat was driven away on Wednesday after it violated the Yellow Sea border and drew warning shots from the South Korean Navy. On Friday, the militaries of the two Koreas briefly exchanged gunfire across their central land border, with no injuries or deaths reported.
The North is demanding 500,000 tons of rice and 300,000 tons of fertilizer in humanitarian assistance from the South in return for an agreement to hold more family reunions. On Tuesday, South Korean Unification Minister Hyun In-taek said such an amount cannot be considered humanitarian, repeating that the North should take steps toward denuclearization and come clean on the Cheonan sinking before Seoul can consider resuming large-scale aid.
On Nov. 25, Red Cross officials of the two Koreas will hold their fifth meeting since September to narrow their differences on ways to regularize family reunions. More than 80,000 South Koreans are officially on waiting lists with hopes of being selected for the reunions. 40,000 applicants have died.