SOKCHO • Dozens of elderly and frail South Koreans gathered excitedly yesterday on the eve of their first meeting with family members in North Korea after nearly seven decades.

The three-day reunion - the first in three years - begins today at the Mount Kumgang resort in North Korea following a rapid diplomatic thaw.

Millions of people were swept apart by the 1950-53 Korean War, which divided families and perpetuated the division of the peninsula.

Among them was Madam Lee Keum-seom, now a tiny and frail 92. She was waiting to see her son for the first time since she left him behind in the turmoil of war. She lost her husband and four-year-old son as their family fled, and boarded a ferry headed for the South with only her infant daughter - who is accompanying her to the reunion. The son is now 71 and Madam Lee has been told that he will bring his daughter-in-law to the meeting.

"I don't know what I'm feeling, whether it's good or bad," Madam Lee told AFP. "I don't know if this is real or a dream."

She raised seven children after remarrying in South Korea but always worried about the son she left in the North. Now there are many questions to ask.

"Where he lived, who he lived with and who raised him - because he was only four," she said.

Because the conflict ended with an armistice rather than a peace treaty, the two Koreas have remained technically remain at war. All civilian exchanges - even mundane family news - are banned.

Since 2000, the two nations have held 20 rounds of reunions but time is running out for many ageing family members. More than 130,000 Southerners have signed up for a reunion since the events began but most of them have since died. Most of those still waiting are over 80 and the oldest participant this year is 101.

With a few people dropping out at the last minute for health reasons, 89 elderly South Koreans - accompanied by relatives - gathered in Sokcho city on South Korea's north-east coast to spend the night before heading to the heavily-fortified border that has taken them decades to cross.

Madam Lee is one of the few parents reuniting with a child. Some of those selected for this year's reunions dropped out after learning that their parents or siblings had died and that they could only meet more distant relatives whom they had never seen before.

Over the next three days, the participants will spend only about 11 hours - mostly under the watchful eyes of North Korean agents - with their relatives in the North. And on Wednesday the families will be separated once again - in all likelihood for a final time.

Families at previous reunions have often found it a bitter-sweet experience. Some complained about the short time they were allowed to spend together. Others lamented the ideological gap between them after decades spent apart.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE