VOA标准英语2009年-Divided Korean Families Prepare for Brief,

By Kurt Achin
Seoul
25 September 2009
A small number of elderly South Koreans are preparing to cross the border with North Korea for a family meeting more than half a century in the making. The Korean division that pulled their family apart also creates the conditions for a less-than-ideal reunion (Sept. 26-Oct. 1).

 
Shin Gwang-sun
Shin Gwang-sun lives with his second wife here in the South Korean capital.  He left his first family behind in North Korea more than half a century ago, when he fled the horror of war. He is 92 now but he still remembers the moment when he left his little girl.

"My mother was holding her on her back and my daughter said 'bye-bye, bye-bye daddy.' She said it just like that ... I am very lucky to see her again. But it still hurts so much."

The guns of the Korean War fell silent in 1953, but the peninsula remains¹ divided. But in just a few days, Shin will see his little girl again, now a grown woman.

"When I meet my daughter, the first thing I am going to ask her is, how are your mother and your grandmother? Where are they? Where are they buried? And you, my daughter, how has your life been?" he said.

 
North Korean and South Korean relatives reunite at North Korea's Kumgang Mountain
These reunions are organized by the Red Cross, like 16 others since 2000.  More than an 100,000 Koreans are on waiting lists to take part.

North and South select just 100 people from each side for each gathering², based mainly on their age and family history.

They are then transported to the North's Kumgang Mountain.

The separated relatives attend a series of events where they can talk, eat, and drink in a banquet hall. What they cannot do is enjoy any privacy³ from their North Korean hosts, nor can they spend the night together.

Kim Seong-keun directs the Inter-Korean Cooperation Division of the Red Cross in Seoul. He says many families wind up disappointed.

 
Kim Seong-keun
"People believe they will spend three full days and two full nights with their family, eating and sleeping together. But we still haven't concluded an agreement with North Korea about that. Over the course of six meetings during a family reunion, they end up spending only 11 hours together. That's not much!" said Kim Seong-keun.

South Korea could hold reunions every weekend. It is North Korea that keeps them few and far apart. The totalitarian government restricts its citizens from contact with or information about the South.

This man met his daughter in a past reunion. He wishes to remain anonymous⁴ to avoid repercussions⁵ for his daughter, who still lives in North Korea. He says his daughter was anxious and silent during most of their meeting, and had clearly lived a life of deprivation⁶.

"Before going to meet her, I would have assumed the only way she could have gotten so thin would be due to some kind of illness. But when I saw her, I realized the truth, she wasn't getting enough to eat. So pitiful." he said.

Advocates of separated families criticize the way North Korea handles the reunions. Lee Sang-chul heads one advocacy group in Seoul. He says South Korea has given the North too much aid, for too few meetings.

 
Lee Sang-chul
"The past two South Korean presidents gave about $1.6 billion worth of rice and fertilizer to North Korea," he said. "In return, North Korea permitted 1,600 families to be reunited. Do the math.  That is a cost of $1 million per reunion. Ridiculous!"

Lee says tens of thousands of separated families are running out of time.

"These people are so old that they are likely to pass away soon. I imagine this whole separated family problem will disappear in about 4 or 5 years. So we need to hurry.  This kind of 100 person at a time gatherings⁷ are nothing more than a token⁸ event, and our organization opposes them," he said.

The Red Cross has produced what it calls video letters, to pass on to separated family members in the North one day, in case their South Korean relatives die before a reunion can take place.

1 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

2 gathering   

n.集会，聚会，聚集

参考例句：

• He called on Mr. White to speak at the gathering.他请怀特先生在集会上讲话。
• He is on the wing gathering material for his novels.他正忙于为他的小说收集资料。

3 privacy   

n.私人权利，个人自由，隐私权

参考例句：

• In such matters,privacy is impossible.在这类事情中，保密是不可能的。
• She wept in the privacy of her own room.她在自己房内暗暗落泪。

4 anonymous   

adj.无名的；匿名的；无特色的

参考例句：

• Sending anonymous letters is a cowardly act.寄匿名信是懦夫的行为。
• The author wishes to remain anonymous.作者希望姓名不公开。

5 repercussions   

n.后果，反响( repercussion的名词复数 )；余波

参考例句：

• The collapse of the company will have repercussions for the whole industry. 这家公司的垮台将会给整个行业造成间接的负面影响。
• Human acts have repercussions far beyond the frontiers of the human world. 人类行为所产生的影响远远超出人类世界的范围。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 deprivation   

n.匮乏；丧失；夺去，贫困

参考例句：

• Many studies make it clear that sleep deprivation is dangerous.多实验都证实了睡眠被剥夺是危险的。
• Missing the holiday was a great deprivation.错过假日是极大的损失。

7 gatherings   

聚集( gathering的名词复数 )； 收集； 采集； 搜集

参考例句：

• His conduct at social gatherings created a lot of comment. 他在社交聚会上的表现引起许多闲话。
• During one of these gatherings a pupil caught stealing. 有一次，其中一名弟子偷窃被抓住。

8 token   

n.筹码，信物，纪念品，礼券；adj.象征性的

参考例句：

• This little gift is a token of our regard.这点礼物是我们大家的一点心意。
• Black is a token of mourning.黑色是沮丧的象征。