"Dad, Jae-Hyuk is coming."

"If we were able to see him two years ago....."

On July 16, when the government released a list of 200 North Korean candidates for family reunion scheduled on August 18, Lim Chang-Hyuk, 71, professor of Korea Aviation College, who lives at Mok-Dong, Yangchun-Ku, Seoul, was delighted to hear that his younger brother in North Korea is still alive. However, he felt at a loss since his father Lim Hee-Kyung, who was healthy up until two years ago, is sick in bed because of dementia and can hardly speak.

When his father rose from his bed, Chang-Hyuk, the eldest son, has shown a picture of his brother which was taken when he was a middle school student, to him and said in a loud voice that Jae-Hyuk, 66, is returning. But, Hee-Kyung just blinked his eyes. Chang-Hyuk was in tears, saying that his father must have understood what he said. His mother Choi Kyung-Hee passed away 16 years ago at the age of 71. His younger sister Boo-Ja also died last year because of lung cancer.

Likewise, it seems that the encrusted dirt of the times have thickened the regret of nearly 10 million separated families. Chang-Hyuk`s recollection of his brother continues.

It was July 1950, just one month after the outbreak of the Korean War, when Jae-Hyuk, the third son, was drafted by a volunteer army. At that time, Jae-Hyuk, the third grader of Chungryang Middle School in Yongdu-dong, Dongdaemun-ku, Seoul, was out. And he was drafted in the street by the People`s Army.

His family belatedly heard about it and went to Hyehwa Elementary School where he was said to be sent to. But, they were able to find him at the school where hundreds of students were gathered to join the volunteer army. They just saw them from a distance and were unable to access the scene.

His family had been looking forward to hearing about him but he never returned during the last half century. There was no news about him. So, his family reported him for missing after seven years and got rid of his name from the census registration the very next year under the government policy.

Chang-Hyuk said: "Our family thought that Jae-Hyuk was dead and didn`t submit an application for the projected reunion." He is so excited to hear his brother`s survival, saying that he would hold a neighborhood party if he returns.