They prepared for days, picking out special dresses or suits, dusting off family photographs, gathering small gifts. They traveled by bus through the snowy countryside and over the demilitarized border into North Korea. 
 
 And there, at a mountain resort, a group of elderly South Koreans reunited with relatives they hadn’t seen in six decades. Sisters met brothers. Fathers met daughters. One South Korean was so frail that he entered the ballroom on a stretcher. 
 
 The six-day family reunion, which began Thursday, marked a rare show of cooperation between the Koreas, whose governments approved this month a new round of the humanitarian program after a three-year lapse. Although it is unclear whether the reunions will lead to a broader thaw, the resumption signaled that the North Korean government in Pyongyang and the South Korean government in Seoul at a minimum have a shared interest in connecting long-lost relatives, whose separation is one of the enduring sorrows on this divided peninsula. 
 
 For many of the South Koreans attending the reunion, this chance to see their relatives is not just their first in decades but is likely to be their last. The 82 participants were chosen by a computer-generated lottery from a waiting list of more than 70,000. The average age of the participants is 84. Many arrived with canes or in wheelchairs accompanied by younger guardians. 
 
 “Time is running out for all these elderly people,” said Hong Soon-ho, whose mother, Heo Kyeong-ok, 86, reunited with a younger sister from the North. 
 
 1 of 8 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad × North and South Korean families reunite View Photos For six days at a mountain resort in North Korea, a group of elderly South Koreans reunited with relatives they hadn’t seen in six decades. The family reunion, which began Thursday, marked a rare show of cooperation between the two Koreas, whose governments this month approved a new round of the humanitarian program after a three-year lapse. Caption For six days at a mountain resort in North Korea, a group of elderly South Koreans reunited with relatives they hadn’t seen in six decades. The family reunion, which began Thursday, marked a rare show of cooperation between the two Koreas, whose governments this month approved a new round of the humanitarian program after a three-year lapse. Feb. 20, 2014 Separated family members from South Korea and North Korea arrive at the Mount Kumgang resort to attend a welcome dinner in North Korea. For many of the South Koreans attending the reunion, this chance to see their relatives is not just their first in decades, but likely their last. The 82 participants were chosen by a computer-generated lottery from a waiting list of more than 70,000. The average participant was 84 years old. Many arrived with canes or in wheelchairs and accompanied by younger guardians. Yonhap via Reuters Buy Photo Wait 1 second to continue. 
 
 Many of the participants, upon seeing their relatives, quivered or fell to the ground. They held hands. They wailed. Eventually, they shared photos and told family stories, in moments captured by South Korean television networks, which broadcast the reunions live. Many of the 180 North Koreans wore traditional colorful dresses called hanboks; all wore state-mandated pins on their left breast. Analysts say North Koreans participating in the reunions are forbidden from talking critically about their totalitarian government. 
 
 Two of those representing the North side on Thursday were actually South Koreans; they were fishermen who were abducted by Pyongyang’s agents during the 1970s and have lived in the North since. According to Seoul, more than 500 such South Korean abductees are still in North Korea, prevented from returning home. The North Korean government says that anybody within its borders is there voluntarily. 
 
 Before and during the Korean War (1950-53), more than 1 million Koreans criss­crossed the border — a chaotic period in which some family members fled and waited for others to join them. Sometimes they left for financial or ideological reasons. Some wagered that they would find safety on the other side. But a cease-fire then created an impermeable zone in the center of the peninsula, an area strung with barbed wire and dotted with land mines. 
 
 Because the war still technically continues — the North and South didn’t sign a treaty — Koreans on both sides are banned from sending mail or making phone calls across the border. Restrictions are particularly strict in the North, where even domestic travel and communication is monitored by state security agents. 
 
 In an authoritative report on North Korean abuses released Monday, a United Nations panel recommended that the North allow separated families to unite, “including by allowing citizens to travel or emigrate where they choose.” 
 
 During a warmer period of inter-Korean relations, between 2000 and 2010, the North and South held 18 family reunions. They attempted to resume the program last year, but the North called off the event at the eleventh hour. South Korean President Park Geun-hye tried last month to restart negotiations, saying it was time for families to “find healing for their pain.” 
 
 This time around, the North accepted and then almost backed out. It was concerned about the upcoming annual South Korea-U.S. joint military exercises, which Pyongyang describes as a prelude to invasion. North and South Korea finally pledged to go ahead with the reunions last week in high-level talks — in spite of the war games. 
 
 Yoonjung Seo contributed to this report. ||||| Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption "The moment they waited 60 years for": The BBC's Lucy Williamson reports 
 
 Hundreds of North and South Korean relatives are seeing each other for the first time in decades, at a reunion for families separated by the Korean War. 
 
 More than 100 mostly elderly South Koreans arrived in the North on Thursday for the event. 
 
 The reunions, which come after North Korea called for better relations between the two sides, will take place from 20 to 25 February. 
 
 They come ahead of planned US-South Korea drills, which begin on Monday. 
 
 North Korea had earlier threatened to cancel the reunions if the military exercises went ahead. 
 
 Emotional scenes 
 
 On Thursday, 82 elderly South Koreans, accompanied by 58 family members, left for North Korea by bus. 
 
 More than a dozen of them were in wheelchairs, and two travelled in ambulances as they needed medical attention, AFP news agency reported. 
 
 Image copyright Reuters Image caption It was the first time the family members had seen each other in decades 
 
 Image copyright Reuters Image caption The South Koreans had to travel to North Korea's Mount Kumgang resort for the reunion 
 
 Image copyright Reuters Image caption Millions of Koreans were separated from their families after the Korean War 
 
 They carried gifts, including clothing, medicine and food for their relatives. 
 
 They met their North Korea relatives at an emotional event in the North's Mount Kumgang resort on Thursday afternoon. The families are also scheduled to have dinner together. 
 
 Around 180 North Koreans attended the reunion, reports said. 
 
 'A true miracle' 
 
 One of those selected for the reunions was South Korean Lee Du-young, who is in his late 70s. 
 
 "It's hard for people to understand what it's like when you've been separated so long," he told the BBC before he left for the North. 
 
 "But it's a true miracle; I'm so elated. All that was missing in my life was my brother, and now that I can see him again, I'd have no regrets whatsoever if I were to die tomorrow." 
 
 He said that as well as warm clothing, he would buy his brother chocolate biscuits because he heard they were sought-after treats in North Korea. 
 
 Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption The BBC's Lucy Williamson explains how the relative reunions work 
 
 The reunions are brief events. Families from both sides meet for a number of hours, before eventually returning to their respective homes. 
 
 Only 100 or so relatives are chosen to take part each time. South Korea uses a lottery system to help determine who is to be included. 
 
 The process in North Korea, on the other hand, is more opaque, with critics saying Pyongyang plays politics with the families involved. 
 
 North Korea has in the past cancelled the reunions after the South took actions it opposed - most recently in September. 
 
 It's colder up north, so I've bought [my brother] a winter coat and some thermal underwear Lee Du-young, South Korean Korean man prepares to meet his brotherIn pictures: Family reunions 
 
 The South Korean relatives were briefed before the reunions and were told not to talk about politics. 
 
 Many people were separated from their relatives by the division of the Korean peninsula after the 1950-1953 war. 
 
 The Korean War ended in a ceasefire, not a peace treaty, and there are no direct means of communication for most North and South Koreans. 
 
 About 72,000 South Koreans are on a waiting list to join the family reunion events. Nearly half of them are over 80. 
 
 The reunions are the only legal way for families separated by the division of the country to see each other, the BBC's Lucy Williamson reports from the southern side of the Korean border. 
 
 They are a small but significant sign of better relations between the two Koreas, but for many of those not chosen this time, the benefits they offer are slow to arrive, our correspondent adds. 
 
 In 2010, the programme was suspended after the North's shelling of a South Korean border island.
– Some 82 elderly South Koreans, in their Sunday best, traveled by bus into North Korea today where they met with relatives they hadn't seen in 60 years, and—at an average age of 84—likely will never see again, the Washington Post reports. The event marked the start of a six-day family reunion between the two Koreas, the first since 2010. It almost didn't happen—North Korea threatened to pull out a day after the reunions were announced—but talks last week seem to have calmed concerns, allowing fathers to reunite with daughters, and brothers and sisters to exchange small gifts of clothing, medicine, and food, after having no communication since the Korean War, the BBC notes. The South Korean participants, who gathered along with 58 other family members, were chosen by computer-generated lottery from a waiting list of more than 70,000, but some were lucky to make it at all. Many were in wheelchairs and one 91-year-old man was so frail, he came in an ambulance. Upon seeing their relatives—180 North Koreans attended, according to reports—some fell to the ground and cried, others held hands and told family stories over old photographs. "It's hard for people to understand what it's like when you've been separated so long," a South Korean man told the BBC before he left. "All that was missing in my life was my brother, and now that I can see him again, I'd have no regrets whatsoever if I were to die tomorrow."