[Editorial] Let us meet again but no more parting

The reunion that took place after fifty years of waiting was too brief and short. The separated families had reunions three times each in Seoul and Pyongyang with their kith and kin to find some peace of mind after their half-century of anger and pain due to the war-forced separation that has always haunted them, even in their dreams. Today, they return from their epic journey to the South and the North.

The tragedy and pain that have occupied the depths of their mind and the three-night and four-day reunion as well as their painful memories will remain to linger on in their home villages as well. With no certain promises for a future reunion but keeping their fingers crossed for such an occasion, they are now returning to resume their painful life of separation.

¡°Who can possibly convey all the untold stories about the pain of separation even if one spends a sea of inky waters and a heaven roll of papers?`` lamented a mother in the South in her letter to a son in the North. This conjures up an image of the separated families` painful life and a life they will have to lead in the future, keeping the countless stories in their inner minds. Where on earth can one find another nation like ours that leads such a life of visceral pain? No political ideologies and systems can possibly compensate for or console the sacrifices and pains of our past.

Now, it behooves the South and the North to do all that they can to heal our wounds. The family reunions taught us the lesson that it can be done. It confirmed the moral imperative that politics and, for that matter, nothing else, can break our blood-bonds. It brought home to us the need for an institutional arrangement between the South and the North to let separated families meet whenever they like to, and to freely write and call each other if they wish to.

Unlimited access to mutual visits and travel and, ultimately, free choice of their permanent residence has become the urgent priority that the South and the North must take up now. This should also become a general direction to lead the two sides` discussions to improve some problems that surfaced in the exchange family visits between Seoul and Pyongyang. The first order of priority must go to the confirmation of the life and death of separated family members. Then, permanent reunion centers must be set up for the old-aged family members so that they can meet separated relatives before it is too late.

As Seoul will soon hand over to Pyongyang the long-term pro-North Korea prisoners, Pyongyang must take comparable measures. The South Korean POWs and kidnapped people must also be given opportunities for reunions as well as their permanent reunion with the separated families if they so wish.

To make the two Koreas a united nation for reconciliation and to realize humanitarian ideals, we must have the courage to make a radical break with the past, which was governed by the logic of mutual confrontation. This will help build the process of mutual confidence which will ultimately let peace and prosperity settle on our peninsula.

Let us not forget the historic reunion, and its excitements and emotions as well. The excitement should not, however, become the basis for rash moves at the forthcoming South-North ministerial meeting in Pyongyang. The meeting must be an occasion for the two sides to exercise calm and wisdom in making the arrangements to prevent the tragedies of a half-century ago and build a lasting structure of peace for the nation`s future.