DOZENS of elderly South Koreans crossed the border into the North for the first time to meet relatives since they were separated during the 1950-53 Korean war.

One 92-year-old South Korean woman wept and stroked the wrinkled cheeks of her 71-year-old North Korean son.

As they met, Lee Keum-seom asked her son Ri Sang Chol: “How many children do you have? Do you have a son?”

Hugging the woman he had not seen since childhood, Ri showed his mother a photo of her late husband, who had stayed in North Korea with him as he grew up.

Most of those participating in the reunions are in their 70s or older and are eager to meet with their loved ones once more before they die.

Most have had no idea whether their relatives are still alive because they are not allowed to visit each other across the border or exchange letters, calls or emails.

About 90 elderly South Koreans, accompanied by their family members, will have three days to spend with their North Korean relatives before returning to the South on Wednesday. Seoul’s unification ministry said there will be another round of reunions from Friday to Sunday, which will include more than 300 more South Koreans.

During Monday's reunions, many elderly Koreans held each other’s hands and wiped away tears while asking how their relatives had lived. They showed each other photographs of family members who were not able to attend the meetings.

Han Shin-ja, a 99-year-old South Korean woman, was at a loss for words after she was reunited with her two North Korean daughters, both in their early 70s.

Not knowing that their separation would be permanent, she had left them behind in the North during the war while fleeing to the South with her third and youngest daughter.

This morning, buses carrying the elderly South Koreans attending this week’s reunions arrived at a border immigration office .

After undergoing immigration checks, they crossed the border by bus and travelled to the Diamond Mountain resort.

South Korea also sent dozens of medical and emergency staff to Diamond Mountain to prepare for potential health problems considering the large number of elderly participants.

The week-long event, which is the first of its kind for three years, comes as the rival Koreas try to boost reconciliation efforts.

The countries are attempting to resolve a stand-off over North Korea’s drive for a nuclear weapons programme that can target the continental United States.

Since reunions were last held, the North has tested three nuclear weapons and multiple missiles.

Before this week’s meetings, some 20,000 people had participated in 20 rounds of face-to-face reunions since 2000. Another 3,700 exchanged video messages with their North Korean relatives, but as of yet none of them have had a second chance to see or talk with their relatives.

North Korea has shifted to diplomacy in recent months. Leader Kim Jong Un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in, a son of North Korean war refugees, agreed to resume family reunions during the first of their two summits this year in April.

South Korea believes the separated families are the largest humanitarian issue created by the war, which killed and injured millions and cemented the division of the Korean Peninsula into the North and South. The ministry estimates there are currently about 600,000 to 700,000 South Koreans with relatives in North Korea, but Seoul has failed to persuade Pyongyang to accept its call for more frequent reunions with more participants.

In June, President Trump and Kim Jong Un met as part of a historic summit between the countries.

During the meeting, the two leaders agreed to work towards the denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula, but North Korea’s commitment to the goal has since been questioned.