The first group of some one-hundred-50 family members from South Korea has returned home ten hours later than originally scheduled following three days of reunions with their long-lost kin in North Korea.

The group arrived at Sokcho, Gangwon Province early Thursday morning after departing from the North at eleven at night Wednesday.

The group's return trip was delayed after North Korea blocked their departure in protest of a South Korean journalist’s wording of reports on the reunion. North Korea demanded that the journalist immediately be pulled out from covering the ongoing inter-Korean family reunions.

The South Korean family members were eventually allowed to return home after the reporter was ordered by its broadcaster to board the bus with the group.

The South’s second group of some four-hundred family members will leave for the Mount Geumgang resort in the North Thursday for a separate three-day reunion. The latest round of family reunions is the 13th since the landmark 2000 inter-Korean summit.