Several hundred elderly South and North Korean relatives clung to each-other, rocking and weeping, and trading photos and faded memories as they met after 60 years  at a reunion for families divided by the Korean War.

The emotional gathering at North Korea's Mount Kumgang resort was the result of tortuous, high-level negotiations between Pyongyang and Seoul.

Television footage showed snow falling hard as 82 South Koreans -- some so frail they had to be stretchered indoors -- arrived at the resort in a convoy of buses to meet 180 North Korean relatives they have not seen for decades.

Inside the main hall, where numbered tables had been laid out, there were moving scenes as divided brothers, sisters, uncles, aunts, step-siblings and in-laws sought each other out and then collapsed into each others' arms.

One of the oldest South Koreans, a 93-year-old man who was separated from his pregnant wife during the 1950-53 conflict, met the now 64-year-old son he had never seen.

"So old," were his first words as they came face-to-face -- the resemblance strikingly clear to people watching.

"Let me hug you," the father said and then, sobbing, they both embraced.

Nearly all the participants had brought photographs, either tattered, black and white images of the family before it was split up, or brand new colour snaps of their current families.

A grand dinner has been planned for this evening.  Tomorrow the reunited relatives wil be given the chance for more private gatherings in their guest rooms.

All carried bags stuffed with gifts, ranging from basic medicines to framed family photos and packets of instant noodles.

The reunion programme began in 2000, but the waiting list has always been far larger than the numbers that could be accommodated.

For many people, time simply ran out. Last year alone 3,800 South Korean applicants for reunions died.

For all the joy the meetings bring, it is tempered by the realisation that -- given the participants' advanced ages -- it also marks a final farewell.