In just a few moments, Samuel Kim lost everything that he had known in his 19 years of age.

The Korean War began in 1950 and like other refugees, Kim’s family attempted to flee from Pyongyang, North Korea to the south.

But one misstep on a road carrying thousands of fleeing families separated Kim from his parents and 14-year-old brother. He continued to march south and later enlisted in the South Korean army.

He would never see his family again.

Fifty-nine years later, those memories still haunt Kim, who is now 78 and lives in Glendale, Calif.

It was by chance that Kim was able to reconnect with his brother, Byung Kook. A friend in Los Angeles was given a rare opportunity in 1990 to visit North Korea and look for his family members.

After his trip, Kim’s friend received North Korean newspapers, mostly filled with propaganda, and found an article that a man in the northern part of the country was looking for his long-lost brother.

Kim discovered the man was his younger brother and sent him a letter.

After a year of waiting for a response, Kim finally received a letter back. “I can’t express it,” Kim says. “It was a long time since I was separated from him. I cried, no doubt.”

He learned that his father died soon after the family was separated. And his mother passed away in 1976 from a stroke. Byung Kook, now 73, lives about 80 miles north of Pyongyang in North Korea.

Kim, who moved to the U.S. in 1966, doubts he will ever be reunited with his brother. While they continue to exchange a handful of letters each year, they have yet to speak on the phone. At Kim’s age, he cannot easily travel to North Korea. He worries that after he dies, his children may not try to find their uncle.

But Kim is one of the lucky few to have had at least some contact with a long-lost relative in North Korea. Many others do not have that chance.

Saemsori, an organization based in Washington, D.C., is working to document the stories of older Korean Americans like Kim and encourage families to contact U.S. Congress members to put the issue of reunions on the front burner.

There are an estimated 200,000 Koreans in the United States who have family members in North Korea, the majority of whom were separated during the Korean War. Those who are looking for their loved ones are part of an aging population that continues to dwindle each year.

Stories of emotional reunions are also decreasing, as the rift between North Korea and the U.S. widens and the ability of elderly Korean Americans to safely look for their family members decreases.

The nonprofit has yet to facilitate any reunions, which are often hampered by bureaucracy and the inability of Korean Americans to get access to North Korea, says Saemsori director Alice Jean Suh.