Lee Soo-nam, 76, shows photos of his brother Ri Jong Song in North Korea during an interview at his home in Seoul, South Korea. Lee is among about 200 war-separated South Koreans and their family members who are crossing into North Korea this week for heart-wrenching meetings with relatives they haven't seen for decades.

SEOUL, South Korea — Hundreds of Koreans will participate this week in highly emotional but brief reunions with relatives most haven’t seen since the 1950-53 Korean War cemented the division of their peninsula into the North and South.

Many of the elderly family members at the reunions, which began Monday at the North’s scenic Diamond Mountain resort, know that given the fickle nature of ties between the rival Koreas, it could be their last meeting before they die.

One of them, Lee Soo-nam, was 8 when his 19-year-old brother was drafted by the invading North Korean army and hasn’t been seen since then.

Lee says, “I’m nervous. I’m still unsure whether this is a dream or reality. I just want to thank him for staying alive all these years.”