hankyoreh

Cho Gap-soon (82

Among South Korean members of families divided by the Korean War who have applied for a chance to meet their relatives in the North, the number of the dead has exceeded the number of the living for the first time. This reflects the rapidly increasing age of these family members.

When the Hankyoreh checked a database of divided families managed by the Unification Ministry and the South Korean Red Cross on Mar. 20, it found that, of the 130,838 South Koreans who had applied for reunions with family members in North Korea between 1988 and the present (Feb. 29), 65,922 (50.4%) were deceased, while 64,916 (49.6%) were still alive.

As recently as the end of January, more of the applicants had been alive (65,687, 50.2%) than dead (65,134, 49.8%).

This is the first time since the South Korean government began taking applications for divided family reunions in 1988 that the deceased have outnumbered the living.

Of the reunion applicants who have passed away, 37,897 (57.4%) were 90 or older while 23,117 (35.1%) were between 80 and 90 years old. This means that 92.6% of the total deceased were at least 80 years old at the time of death.

Of the survivors, 53,479 (82.4%) are 70 or older, while 36,754 (56.6%) are at least 80 years old.

According to figures from the end of Nov. 2003 - the oldest figures that are available on the website of the divided family database - 103,320 of the total 122,808 people who had applied for reunions were still alive at the time.

Just as the sand never stops trickling through the hourglass, the number of the deceased is swiftly growing.

Despite this, the North and South Korean governments have only allowed four reunions (2009, 2010, 2014 and 2015) to take place since former president Lee Myung-bak took office in 2008.

Even worse, the complete disruption of inter-Korean relations this year makes it hard to guess when the reunions will next take place.

By Lee Je-hun, staff reporter

Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]