SKOREA-NKOREA-FAMILIES-REUNION

In a photo taken on February 22, 2014 South Koreans aboard a bus wave goodbye to their North Korean relatives as they leave a family reunion at the resort area of Mount Kumgang, North Korea. Among tens of thousands of wait-listed applicants, the 85-year-old was one of just 83 South Koreans chosen to participate in a meeting of family members divided by the 1950-53 Korean War. Kim left his hometown in the North Korean county of Hwangju in December 1950 at the height of the war to join the South Korean army, without telling his parents, his brother or his two sisters. In the six decades since, he had no contact with those he left behind, not knowing whether they were alive or dead. Millions of Koreans were separated by the conflict and permanent division of the peninsula. The joy of reunion is tempered by the pain of the inevitable -- and permanent -- separation at the end. Although he knew it would be near impossible to expect answers to more than 60 years worth of questions, Kim was grateful to have finally heard how his parents died and how his other relatives lived during the years since he left. Of the 125,000 South Koreans who have applied for reunions since 1988, 57,000 have died with time rapidly running out for those on the wait list. AFP PHOTO (Photo credit should read AFP/AFP via Getty Images)