MOSCOW, September 26 (RIA Novosti) - Hundreds of elderly North and South Koreans separated by the Korean War more than half a century ago met to the north of the border on Saturday in the first such reunion event in two years.

Seoul's Yonhap news agency said 96 South Koreans traveled across the Demilitarized Zone in the morning to meet their families, cut off since the 1950-53 war, at the Mount Kumgang resort on North Korea's east coast.

The majority of participants are aged over 70, and many are in their 90s. The last reunion was held in October 2007.

An agreement on holding the event was reached during talks last month mediated by the International Committee of the Red Cross. Another reunion will be held next week, expected to involve almost 100 families.

As participants are chosen at random, the vast majority of applicants are rejected, meaning that thousands of Korean families are still waiting for a chance to see their long-lost relatives.

The agreement on holding the reunion is one of several signs of a slight thawing in relations between the two countries.

The North had suspended reunions amid tensions with the South following the election last year of President Lee Myung-bak, who has taken a tougher position on North Korea's nuclear program and on financial aid to Pyongyang.