REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, SOKCHO -- Several hundred mostly elderly South Koreans headed for North Korea on Tuesday for a rare, emotional meeting with relatives they have either never met or last saw more than six decades ago.

A fleet of buses led by four black sedans flying Red Cross flags carried the family members from a resort in the port city of Sokcho to the heavily fortified border in the morning.

After crossing the frontier that has divided the peninsula -- and its people -- since the 1950-53 Korean War, the convoy will drive to North Korea's Mount Kumgang where the three-day reunion will begin in the afternoon.

Only the second such reunion in the past five years, it was the result of an agreement the two Koreas reached in August to ease tensions that had pushed them to the brink of armed conflict.

Millions of people were displaced by the sweep of the Korean War, which saw the frontline yo-yo from the south of the Korean peninsula to the northern border with China and back again.

The chaos and devastation separated brothers and sisters, parents and children, husbands and wives.

With more than 65,000 South Koreans currently on the waiting list for a reunion spot, those headed for Mount Kumgang on Tuesday represented a very fortunate minority.

"I couldn't sleep at all last night," said 82-year-old Lee Joo-Kuk, sporting a tag with his name, age and the name of the elder brother he will be meeting in Mount Kumgang.

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