Mt. Halla Stem

North Koreans who have family ties to South Korea. (The term is taken from Mount Halla, South Korea’s highest mountain.)

Since 2000, North and South Korea have allowed a select number of cross-border family reunions, briefly reconciling relatives who have not seen each other in almost 60 years. According to the BBC some 16,000 families have been reunited this way, albeit it briefly.

North Korea suspended these reunions in 2008, after relations between Pyongyang and Seoul soured, but, in August 2009, the Red Cross mediatedtheir re-commencement.

Whereas South Korean families are selected for participation by lottery, The Chosun Ilbo reported that North Koreans are selected because of their “ideological soundness”:

The criteria for selection are political value and propaganda potential. South Korean prisoners of war and citizens who were abducted by the North are picked for their political value. North Korea believes that South Korean demands for the release of all POWs and abductees can be appeased if such people are included.

North Koreans who are successful or have no record of mistreatment by the regime are considered for their propaganda potential, as they are more likely to praise the leadership when they meet their family from the South.

According to The Chosun Ilbo:

The family reunions have led to the coining of a new term in North Korea, the “Mt. Halla stem,” which refers to the mountain in South Korea’s Jeju Island. The cream of the crop in North Korean society come from the so-called “Mt. Baekdu stem,” or those who fought as partisan guerrillas or as soldiers in the Korean War. The “Mt. Fuji stem” refers to North Koreans who came from Japan and have grown wealthy due to money transferred by family there.

North Koreans with family who went to South Korea during the Korean War used to be despised in the North, but they have been reevaluated since the reunions started. Due to Japan’s prolonged sanctions against North Korea, the Mt. Fuji stem has mostly collapsed, but North Koreans with family members in South Korea have become wealthier.