Dozens of elderly Koreans gathered Sunday at the South Korean border with North Korea to be reunited with family members from the North as part of the first round of reunions in more than three years.
More than 57,000 South Koreans had registered for a chance to meet relatives in North Korea, but only 93 were chosen for the latest round of brief meetings, which are set to begin Monday in North Korea's Mount Kumgang tourist resort. Only 88 North Koreans have been allowed to participate.
Over three days, the participants will have six face-to-face meetings with their North Korean relatives -- under the watchful eyes of North Korean agents.
There have been just 20 reunions since 2000, the last one took place in October 2017.
Millions of Korean families were divided by the 1950-53 Korean War. After more than 50 years of separation, many of those waiting to be reunited with their loved ones have died. Most of those surviving are over 80 years of age.
Among those most desperate to reconnect with family are Korean-Americans who have never been included in the reunion process.
South Korean officials tried to have Korean-American families included in Monday's reunion, but Pyongyang rejected the notion.
几十名年迈的韩国人星期天（2018年8月19日）聚集在朝韩边界，准备与居住在朝鲜的家庭成员团聚。这是三年多来朝韩首轮家庭团聚的一部分。
超过5万7千名韩国人已经登记希望与居住在朝鲜的亲人会面，但是只有93人被选中参与星期一开始在朝鲜旅游胜地金刚山举行的最新一轮短暂家庭团聚。朝鲜方面只有88人被允许参加这次团聚。
在未来三天内，亲属们将在朝鲜当局人员的注视下举行6次面对面的团聚。
自从2000年以来，双方只安排了20次亲人团聚活动。上一次团聚是在2017年的10月。
数以百万计的朝鲜家庭被1950年至1953年的朝鲜战争拆散。分开50多年后，许多等待与亲人团聚的人已经去世，依然在世的许多人已经年过80岁。
一些韩裔美国人也在最渴望与家人团聚的人之列，但他们从来没有被纳入团聚的计划当中。
韩国官员曾试图将韩裔美国家庭纳入星期一开始的韩朝家庭团聚计划，但被平壤当局拒绝。