South Korean Prime Minister Kang Young-hoon was reunited briefly with his sister whom he had not seen for more than 40 years during his visit to North Korea last week, an aide said Monday.
The aide said the hourlong meeting between the 68-year-old prime minister and his 64-year-old sister, Young-sun, took place Oct. 19 while Kang was in Pyongyang to meet northern Premier Yon Hyong-muk.Kang, who was born in the now-North Korean town of Changsung in 1922, retired as a three-star army general in 1961. He became prime minister in December 1988.
He is among about 10 million Koreans separated from family members because of the 1945 division of the peninsula. North and South Korea have had no mail, telecommunications or travel links since the 1950-53 Korean War.
Contacts have increased since both prime ministers met in Seoul in early September and in Pyongyang last week. A third meeting is planned in Seoul in December.
Red Cross officials of both Koreas arranged brief reunions between scores of families in 1985 but otherwise there has been no contact between separated families in four decades.