Koreans hope Winter Olympics mood can help reunite divided families

(16 Feb 2018) When Kang Hwa-seon was married into a family living in the eastern coastal city in the early 1940s, she played the role of mother for her little brother-in-law. Then, they were pulled apart during the turmoil of the 1950-53 Korean War. In late 2015, she travelled to North Korea and tearfully reunited with her brother-in-law Song Dong Ho under the now-dormant family reunion programmes. After their three days of meeting, she has had no word from him. Her hopes for a second meeting grew recently, however, as South Korea's first Winter Olympics in her neighbourhood have led to the Koreas setting aside their bitter animosities. Millions of families were completely separated during the Korean War. Only a portion of them have been allowed to reunite with their long-lost relatives briefly under humanitarian programmes that began in 2000. Reunions are deeply emotional, as most people who apply to take part are in their 70s or older, and they don't even know if their loved ones are still alive because their governments prohibit citizens from exchanging phone calls, letters or emails. It's not clear if the current rapprochement mood will last after the Olympics end on February 25. Some experts say animosities could easily flare again once Seoul and Washington launch their delayed springtime massive military drills - which Pyongyang views as an invasion rehearsal. But others say North Korea is serious about its outreach this time, citing a slew of unusual steps it has taken such as a joint march with South Korea during the February 9 opening ceremony; the formation of a combined Korean women's hockey team; and the dispatching of leader Kim Jong Un's powerful sister as part of an Olympic delegation. South Korea wants fully-fledged, regular reunions, but North Korea has previously used the programmes as a way to win aid and other concessions from the South. Experts say the North also worries expanded reunions would risk its citizens being influenced by the much more affluent South. Most past reunions typically involved hundreds of Koreans at the North's scenic Diamond Mountain resort, with Seoul using a computerised lottery system to choose participants while the North reportedly picked citizens loyal to its Kim leadership. No Korean has ever been given a second chance to meet their relative. Before their 2015 meeting, the Koreas' most recent reunion programme, Kang's family held a memorial service for her brother-in-law every year because it thought Song had already died a long time ago. They said they heard from various people that he was forcefully conscripted to the North's army while on the way to school in the early months of the war and that his unit was completely destroyed due to an American plane bombing. But it was Song who looked for Kang's family for a 2015 reunion. By then, Song's parents and an elder brother had all died. So Kang went to the North Korean mountain with her children who have never seen him and a nephew who remembered him as a boy. Kang's neighbour Kwon Sun Ku, 76, met his elder brother for three days at the Diamond Mountain in 2005. He learned that his brother Kwon Sun Oh, who disappeared during the war, had been living on the northern side of the divided Gangwon province. Kwon Sun Ku said he hopes to exchange letters with his brother "and if possible, meet him to find how he's been doing since lots of things have changed over the years." Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...