Korean families reunite for the first time after being torn apart for 65 years

Six decades have passed by since the war separated North Koreans from the South, leaving many families with no way of getting in touch.

Recently, they were reunited for the first time.

A group of nearly 400 South Koreans were chosen to participate in the rare inter-Korean reunion that took place at the Mount Kumgang resort in North Korea, Reuters reports.

They crossed the North Korean border on Tuesday to see their family members for the first time since the Korean War separated them 65 years go.

Among the participants to be selected for the painful brief reunion were Lee Soon-gyu and her husband Oh In Se.

The last time they saw each other was back in 1950 when Lee was only 19-years-old and six months pregnant, according to the National Post.

“Come, sit close to me,” the 83-year-old Oh said to his wife, reports the news outlet.

Their son, Oh Jang-kyun, who is now 65-years-old, was also at the gathering to meet his father after crossing the heavily armed North Korean border with his mother.

Together they all sat with Oh in the middle holding hands, National Post reports. Lee also had a present for her husband. She gave him a gold watch, engraved with each of their names and placed it on his wrist.

“I can’t tell you how much I missed you,” Lee told her husband, who never remarried and raised their son alone, New York Times reports. “I have wept so much thinking of us that there are no tears left in me.”

Oh replied saying, “My dear, I didn’t know that the war would do this to us.”

They were only allowed to be together for 12 hours before they got separated again, according to the New York Times.

The South Korean Red Cross was able to organize the family reunions after the two Koreas agreed to negotiate, for the first time, to end the “standoff at the military border” in August, according to Reuters.

The second round of family reunions will take place over the weekend where about 190 North Koreans will see their South Korean families.