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2 Koreas Exchange Names for Family Reunions

Officials from the two Koreas shake hands in the truce village of Panmunjom on Saturday. /Yonhap

South Korea handed a final list of 93 people and North Korea a list of 88 for family reunions at Mt. Kumgang on Aug. 20-26.

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Liaison officials solemnly swapped the lists in the truce village of Panmunjom last Saturday.

The 93 South Koreans will meet long-lost relatives from the North on Aug. 20-22, and on Aug. 24-26, the 88 North Koreans will be reunited with their relatives from the South.

The original target had been 100 people from each side, but since candidate are very elderly more than 60 years after the war, some are unable to travel.  

A Unification Ministry official told reporters on Sunday, "Some applicants have given up because their health has deteriorated or because they don't want meet with relatives other than their husbands or wives, parents or children".

Earlier, the two sides exchanged lists of relatives of the candidates so they could find out whether they are still alive.

Of the 250 names South Korean applicants asked about, it turned out that 122 are still alive, 41 dead, and 87 unidentified. Of the 200 North Korean applicants asked about, 122 are still alive, seven dead, and 71 unidentified.

The oldest person on the lists is a 101-year-old South Korean man surnamed Baek. Thirty-five people on the South Korean list are over 90.

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