War－separated families gather at Sokcho ahead of reunion 이 시각 이산가족 상봉 집결지 속초 한
We shift our focust to the hotly－anticipated inter－Korean family reunions，... With the historic event just one day away，... South Koreans who will get to meet long－lost relatives living in North Korea... have gathered close to the border in Gangwon－do Province today，... for a pre－session. We connect live to Kwon Soa who is at the venue. Soa， how are preparations unfolding？ Hi， Daniel I′m here in Sokcho at Hanwha Resort，... where the South Korean families，... that′ll meet their North Korean family members tomorrow，... are currently gathered for dinner. ...following a session where they were briefed on the intinerary and precautionary instructions. That includes what they should not talk about once they meet their North Korean relatives. For example，... political issues，... and specific wordings. While the families from the South arrived here，... and went through simple paper proceedings，... the president of the Korean Red Cross，... which is the organizer of the event，... gave a briefing to reporters on the event and talked about the significance of these family reunions. ″The wherabouts of around 30－thousand separated families have been confirmed. From now on this event must become a regular one... because the families on average are in their eighties and nineties...″ Daniel，... what this means is that every day around 10 of those families die，... in a year 3－thousand to 4－thousand. That is the bitter reality. For now we′ll focus on the lucky few that were chosen for the reunions. They must be feeling a mix of emotions having waited more than 60 years for this moment. Soa，... walk us through how the reunion process will happen this week. Sure. The reunions are divided into two parts. Let′s take a look at the schedule. After today′s presession，... the 389 South Koreans will head to the reunion venue in Mount Kumgang，... to meet 96 of North Koreans that applied for seeing their families in the south. Over the course of three days， they will meet six times for two hours. The second round will take place from Oct. 24th to 26th，... when 90 people from the South meet with 188 from the North. Daniel What′s noticeable at the reunions this year is that the farewell meeting will be two hours... as Seoul′s Unification Ministry had requested for a longer period... after all this might be the first time in more than sixty years AND the last time the families get to see their separated families. This has been Kwon Soa， reporting live from Sokcho， Hanwha Resort.
