Pursuits

Kim Jong Un Permits Family Reunions to Gain Leverage With South

  • South Korean tour groups bring in much-needed hard currency
  • Better peninsula ties improve odds for Kim visit to China

South Koreans in a bus bid farewell to their North Korean relatives before they return to their home after a family reunion in North Korea. Photographer: Getty Images

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Lee Taek Gu is about to meet his little sister -- something he’s waited 65 years for.

The 89-year-old South Korean will join about 186 families this week at North Korea’s Geumgang mountain resort, where he’ll be reunited with his sibling for the first time since the 1950-1953 Korean War split the peninsula and hundreds of thousands of families. He’s one of the lucky ones.