Longing for Home

[Anchor Lead]

It has been 35 years since the KBS TV show about separated family reunions was inscribed as Memory of the World. An international festival held in the city of Cheongju has drawn attention by featuring a special event about the TV show and an exhibition to remind the world of the ardent wish of the Korean people to have their homeland unified.

[Pkg]

Back in 1983 KBS launched a live TV show that helped connect separated families from South and North Korea. Over four months, the show featured more than ten thousand dramatic reunions. It was the world's first and largest telecast of separated family reunions. Three years ago, UNESCO added the archives of the show to the Memory of the World list. A special exhibition dedicated to the show has been held at an international festival in Cheongju, Chungcheongbuk-do Province. The exhibition puts on display more than 20,000 pieces of archives including footage and timetables.

[Soundbite] Kim Kwan-kook(Member of Separated Family (born in Pyongyang)) : "I wish there were a permanent reunion center and I could find out if my loved ones are still alive. I don't know if it will ever happen."

Palm-sized colorful pictures fill the exhibition hall. They depict mountain slopes, rivers and bucolic paths from the hometowns of some six thousand displaced people from the North. Drawn with tears and memories of beloved hometowns, the pictures have been transformed into large installation art.

[Soundbite] Kang Ik-jung(Installation Artist) : "When many small wishes get together, they turn into one big wish. I hope this exhibition will serve as important energy in opening a new future for our nation."

These materials and works of art once again remind people of Koreans' ardent wish for peace and unification.