SEOUL, Aug. 22 (Xinhua) -- South Korean families, separated by the 1950-1953 Korean War from relatives living in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), returned home Wednesday after three-day reunions.

Eighty-nine South Koreans, mostly in their 80s or older, crossed the heavily-armed inter-Korean border into Sokcho, a city in northeast South Korea, from Mount Kumgang, a scenic resort in the DPRK's southeast coast.

The South Korean separated families returned in buses after meeting with DPRK relatives for the first time since the Korean War ended in 1953 with armistice that left the Korean Peninsula divided.

Since the war ended, people of the two Koreas have been banned from exchanging letters and phone calls, much less meeting each other.

The meetings in nearly seven decades were painfully short. The separated families were granted permission to meet each other in group and private gatherings for only 12 hours during the three-day reunions.

The second session of reunions was scheduled to last from Friday to Sunday at the Mount Kumgang resort.