NATALIE ALLEN, CNN ANCHOR: There were more scenes of unbridled joy in the capitals of North and South Korea today as families that have been divided for 50 years get reacquainted. CNN's Sohn Jie-ae reports from Seoul.</s>SOHN JIE-AE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): He was 19 and she was in her 30s when Cho Ju-Kyung (ph) and his mother, Shin Jae-Soon (ph), last saw each other. Cho went north with the communist army during the Korean War, while he was a student at Seoul National University. Shin spent the next 50 some years praying to Buddha that her only child was still alive and that she would one day be able to see him again. On Tuesday, her prayers were answered. A day after the emotional initial meeting with her son, who is now 68 years old and a well-known scholar at the North's Kim Il Sung University, the mother and son finally got a chance to get together in a more private setting. "Thank you, thank you, this is all due to the grace of the Buddha," says Shin, who lives in a temple, having no children to take care of her. She hung a gold chain around her son's neck, and prayed it would keep him safe and healthy. He gave her silk, chosen by his own children in the North. "We missed your 60th, 70th and 80th birthdays," says Cho. Meetings like this occurred in both Seoul and Pyongyang on the second day of the four-day visit by 200 divided families. Families exchanged gifts, jewelry and photographs, and tried to catch up on the more than 50 years they lost. Their stories captivated South Koreans. "My heart just went out to them," says this woman. "It made me really sad to see adults cry like that," says this young girl, South Korean newspapers filled their pages with news of the reunions and the tragic stories. (on camera): The newspapers said tears flowed on both sides of the Korean peninsula, and they called for the governments of both Koreas to do everything possible so that this type of tragedy does not happen again. Sohn Jie-ae, CNN, Seoul.
Together Again: Korean Families Divided for 50 Years Get Reacquainted