Hundreds of South Koreans have gathered before crossing into North Korea ahead of a rare family reunion session for relatives separated by the Korean Peninsula War.

Some 394 South Koreans met at a hotel in the eastern coastal city of Sokcho along the South’s northeast coast, before entering the North’s resort of Mount Kumgang, on Tuesday.

They were called to attend the reunion by some 100 North Koreans selected to take part in the event.

The rare meeting, the second of its kind in the past five years, is part of an agreement reached in August to deescalate tensions between the two neighbors.

In September, the two Koreas agreed that reunions would be held during October 20-26, after hours of negotiations in which they said they would work to “fundamentally resolve humanitarian issues.”

The last reunion took place in February 2012.

The 1950-53 war divided the two Koreas and separated millions of people.

According to South Korean Unification Ministry data, some 130,000 South Koreans have registered with Seoul since 1988 to see their family members in the North. However, only 65,000 are currently alive, with most being aged 70 or more.

The issue of separated families comes as the Korean Peninsula has also been locked in a cycle of escalating military rhetoric as a result of the war.