SEOUL?hey were the scenes of tearful reunions in more than 50 years on both sides of the divided Korean peninsula.

One hundred people from both Koreas flew to the other? capital on air flights that took less than one hour to reach their destinations on Nov. 30.

The heart-breaking scenes of family reunions at the Convention & Exhibition Center in Seoul and the Pyongyang Gymnasium in the North Korean capital left the two Koreas in tears.

After a separation of 50 years, the reunited families were conspicuously euphor ic, also sharing their long-lasting pains.

The tearful reunion drama began with the arrival of a North Korean passenger jet carrying 100 split families alongwith North Korean officials and reporters at the Kimpo International Airport at 10:57 a.m. The Russian-made Il-62 jet was the first North Korean passenger plane ever to land at the airport in southwestern Seoul.

The first batch of North Koreans to emerge from the jet was one of reporters, including cameramen, who scrambled to cover the historic event. Then Ryu Mi-yong, the 78-year-old head of the North Korean family reunion delegation appeared on the trap first.

Ryu, who defected to the North with her husband from the United States in 1986, was greeted by Pong Doo-wan, vice chief of South Korean Red Cross. She waved to the crowd while other North Koreans exited from the plane.

Soon after, Ryu and Pong proceeded to the airport? lounge for brief talks. Asked how she felt about coming back to Seoul, Ryu expressed hope that the two Koreas would join forces to realize the national reunification.

She bluntly replied in English, `` I am very happy,亮 when asked about the family reunion by a foreign journalist.

The North Korean jet took off from the Kimpo airport around 1 p.m., one hour later than scheduled, this time carrying 151 South Koreans to North Korea. Although the plane? departure was behind schedule, the family reunion in the North began at 4 p.m. on schedule.

Then, there were reunions between husbands and wives, parents and sons and daughters and brothers and sisters on both sides.

Hundreds of South Koreans first took their seats at the third-floor convention hall at the COEX past 3:30 p.m. to wait for their North Korean families. In the 800-pyong (one pyong equals 3.3 square meters) hall, 100 round tables were already arranged.

There were six chairs for a table considering that the maximum number of South Korean people to be reunited was limited to five per family. All the chairs were without armrests to allow the family members to embrace while seated.

Also on the table were tissues, handkerchiefs, tobacco produced under an inter-Korean joint program and bottles of mineral water imported from the North Each table had an assigned number and a name to help North Koreans find the correct ones.

Soon Ryu, the North Korean female leader, entered the hall as the head of the North Korean delegation. The North Koreans followed Ryu in the order of the assigned number and were led to their respective families while seated by South Korean Red Cross officials.

Then, tears of joy and anguish engulfed the convention hall. The South Koreans immediately recognized their approaching families from the North and immersed into each other? arms, bursting into tears.

The reunions, the first since 1985, came delightfully for the lucky Koreans who were selected in a laborious process but Oh Yong-jae, a North Korean poet, felt something important missing.

Oh, who came to Seoul as one in the team of 100 North Koreans for four-day reunions with family members in South Korea, couldn? see his mother who had apparently died five years ago. Instead, Oh, 66, met his 62-year-old younger brother living in Seoul.

While his mother was still alive in the South, the North Korean poet had written,``Mom, please don? get older. I wish I could stop time until the nation reunifies and we can get together again.亮

Each of the 100 families in the convention hall?nd another group of 100 families having a get-together in Pyongyang?as not without its own tragic story.

The reunion came too late for 100-year-old Cho Won-ho, who hardly recognized her 70-year-old son, Lee Chong-pil, because of her Alzheimer? disease and laborious trip to the Sheraton Walker Hill Hotel. The son repeatedly asked whether his mother could recognize him but the elderly mother remained listless.

Lee Tok-man, 87, who was battling cancer at a Seoul hospital, was delighted to see his 65-year-old son, Ahn Sun-hwan, from North Korea. Lee? son disappeared when he was a middle school senior during the 1950-53 Korean War.
Since her son went missing, the mother has never moved, hoping that her son would find his way home on coming back.

Family reunions are a pressing issue between the two Koreas as many aging family members have only a few years remaining. So far, many people have already died without making any contact with their famili s and relatives on either side.