SEOUL, South Korea — Chang Byong Rak sobbed when he heard he might at last return to North Korea after 38 years in South Korea — all but one of those years in prison for spying for his communist homeland.
For Chang and dozens of other former agents, the news that leaders of the two Koreas had agreed at a summit in Pyongyang to repatriate an unspecified number of northern spies who have served their terms was a source of overwhelming joy.
"How could I not think of my family? How could I not miss them?" Chang said Thursday, his voice trembling with emotion. "Of course I will go. It has been so long. Just too long."
At their unprecedented summit, South Korean President Kim Dae-jung and North Korean leader Kim Jong Il signed an agreement late Wednesday aimed at easing tension and working toward reunification. They agreed on the repatriation of former communist prisoners in the South and reunions of separated families.
Chang, 65, was caught and convicted of spying for North Korea in April 1962, a month after he was sent by boat to South Korea. He was released last year after 37 years in jail.
He has not heard news of his wife and son, who was a newborn when he left North Korea.
Kim Young Tae, 69, a former North Korean soldier, said he did not know how to describe his feelings at the news that he might go home.
"I waited for such a long time, and now that it's happening, I can't believe it is really happening," Kim said, and laughed with joy.
Kim was caught in 1952 while fighting for North Korea during the 1950-53 Korean War. He was imprisoned for 20 years and released.
In 1975, he was sent to jail again under a new law that called for imprisonment of convicted communists, including those who had already served long prison terms. He was released in 1989 when the law was abolished.
Kim knows, through brokers in China and Japan, that his wife died years ago, but he still has family in North Korea. "I can't wait to see my son and grandsons with my own eyes," he said.
Some former North Korean spies had mixed feelings.
Ahn Young Ki's wife and two daughters are in North Korea. But the 70-year-old also has a sister, a brother and four nephews and nieces in South Korea.
"If they let me go, I will go. Think of the years my wife and daughters had to spend without their husband and father. It breaks my heart to think of them," he said.
"But if the repatriation means I can go but cannot return to see relatives in South Korea, it would be painful as well. There should be a way you can visit the two sides."
South Korean human rights groups say there are 88 convicted northern spies in South Korea. Of those, 58 people with families in North Korea want to go home.
In 1993, Seoul sent former North Korean guerrilla Ri In Mo home in a humanitarian gesture. North Korea responded by denouncing Seoul for allegedly torturing Ri and keeping him in jail for decades. Seoul has not repatriated any northern spy since.
Seoul says North Korea has abducted 3,756 South Koreans since the Korean War ended without a peace treaty. All but 454 of them — mostly fishermen — were sent back to the South.
It also says thousands of South Korean prisoners of war never returned after the Korean War. Pyongyang has denied there are South Koreans held in the North against their will.
South Korean officials estimate about 10 million Koreans on both sides of the border are separated from their families.