MOUNT GEUMGANG , North Korea Animated voices were buzzing at a North Korean hotel Sunday , the second day of reunions of families separated by the 1950 - 53 Korean War , as families began to put behind the painful six decades and share memories of the good times . “ I still cannot believe we are both alive and reunited , ” said Kim Weol - hwa , 77 , who met her elder sister Seon - a , 80 , who had left home to earn some money for the household just before the war and never came back . “ I have cried enough and now want to hear more about how my sister has been all these years . ” “ I am so , so happy , ” the elder Kim said , holding tightly on to her younger sibling ’ s hand , now crinkled with age just as her own . The two sisters were one of the 97 families reunited at this scenic mountain resort in North Korea for the first time since the war separated them across the heavily fortified border , underscoring the tragedy on the divided Korean Peninsula . The two Koreas technically remain at war as their conflict ended in a truce rather than a peace treaty , the inter - Korean law forbidding the family members from contacting one another across the border . On Sunday , the second day of the three - day reunion , families were given private time in their own rooms for some more personal stories and presents - sharing . These sessions were not disclosed to the media . Sobbing and singing a doleful Korean folk song , Lee In - sook , 74 , looked up and grabbed her 81 - year - old brother ’ s hand protruding from a bus window outside of the hotel . “ Thank you , brother , thank you for being alive ( to see me ) , ” Lee told her brother after finishing the song , “ longing for my brother . ” Three days being apparently too short to make up for the past six decades they spent separated from one another , families reunited here exchanged gifts that appeared to deliver unspoken words and unexpressed feelings . “ I received handcrafted artwork from my uncle , who said he tried to recreate features of his old hometown Gwangju , ” said Yun Sang - ho , 50 , who traveled from the South Korean city to meet his 80 - year - old uncle Yun Jae - seol . “ My father often spoke about the village before he passed away four months ago . Uncle said he began to make the piece four years ago , when he first applied to meet with us . ” Jeong Gi - ok , 62 , who came to meet her brother Gi - hyeong , said she had brought new shoes for the 79 - year - old brother , who had “ been taken away in bare feet ” during the war . “ After finishing all the work the North Korean military has told me to do , I wanted to return to my family . But I couldn ’ t . I felt sorry that my family has lived with many worries about me , ” said the brother , surrounded by his three younger sisters in traditional Korean costumes from the South . Like the Jeongs , South Korean families brought gifts that were either considered rare in the North like bananas , medicine and instant noodles or ones that had a special meaning for the family like shoes and wind - up clocks . “ We brought all we could and all we could think of , ” said Kim Weol - hwa who brought four separate packages of clothes , socks , fruits and other daily necessities , just below the 30 kilogram - limit the Red Cross had attached to the weight of the gifts . The new round of the reunions came on the heels of easing tensions between the two Koreas , who had been at odds since May , when Seoul officially accused its North Korean rival of torpedoing its warship and killing 46 young sailors . While continuing to deny the accusation by a team of multinational experts , Pyongyang was first to propose holding a new round of the temporary family reunions in 13 months . The two Koreas are also continuing talks on ways of regularizing the reunions of family members , most of them now in their late 70 s to 80 s . Some 20 , 800 families have reunited through the family reunions , the first of which was held in 2000 after the landmark summit of the leaders of the two Koreas . Still , some 80 , 000 applicants in South Korea alone are waiting for a chance to briefly meet with their family member in the North , according to Seoul ’ s Unification Ministry . The families will be bidding farewell perhaps for good , unless the two Koreas are reunited in the near future on Monday , after which South Koreans will travel back to their capitalist country . On Wednesday this week , a group of 96 South Koreans randomly chosen for reunions will arrive at the North ’ s mountain resort to be reunited with their loved ones in the North . North Korea , which relies mostly on outside assistance to feed its impoverished population of 24 million , requested Seoul to send 500 , 000 tons of rice in aid last week , linking the support with regular family reunions . The totalitarian state , which reportedly is suffering from deepening food shortages after the flooding this summer , is in need of more food aide to secure stability as its ailing leader Kim Jong - il prepares to transfer power to his youngest son Jong - un , analysts say . The Korean War broke out when North Korean forces stormed into South Korea in June 1950 and advanced as far as to the perimeter of the southeastern port city of Busan . Upon intervention by U . S . - led U . N . forces , the North rolled back forcing many South Koreans to join its retreating army . Many also voluntarily joined the North . Hundreds of then - South Korean soldiers are believed to be still living in North Korea . By Joint Press Corps ( hayney @ heraldm . com )