hankyoreh

who was kidnapped by North Korea while fishing in the West (Yellow) Sea in 1970 meets his older brother Park Yang-soo at the divided family reunions held at Keumgang Mountain Hotel in North Korea

By Park Byong-su, senior staff writer and press pool

On Feb. 20, the divided families from North and South Korea were reunited at the Mt. Keumgang Hotel.

Locked in an embrace, two men in their fifties pulled away for a moment and stared at each other, as if curious what their faces looked like, as thick tears streamed down. Park Yang-gon, 52, from South Korea, met his older brother Park Yang-soo, 55, who was abducted to the North 42 years ago, long after the Korean War. The two were separated in 1972, while they were still in their teens. Despite the years that have passed since then, they both seem to remember what the other looks like.

During this reunion, two families with relatives abducted by the North during the war and two others with relatives abducted after the war met their relatives, who have been living in the North. Park Yang-soo, who was reunited with Park Yang-gon, was on the crew of the Odaeyang, a fishing boat that was taken to the North while fishing for skate on in the West (Yellow) Sea in Dec. 1972.

Yang-soo was abducted to North Korea around the time that Yang-gon completed elementary school. Their parents, who have since passed away, were working as farm laborers at the time, while Yang-soo was helping out with the chores after completing elementary school.

“My brother was three years older than me,” Yang-gon said. “At that young age, he boarded the ship, hoping to help support the family.”

“It was so long ago and my only memories are of how hard things were back then, so now I find myself wondering whether this is really my brother. After my brother was abducted to the North, my family was not allowed to leave the country, and we experienced a lot of difficulties in our daily lives,” said Yang-soo.

“About 12 years ago I heard that my brother was still alive from someone who visited the North, and now I’ve finally met him,” he said.

At the same event, Choi Seon-deuk, 71, and his younger brother Choi Young-cheol, 61, who was abducted by North Korea in 1974 while aboard Suwon #33, cried when they saw each other for the first time in 40 years. Young-cheol was accompanied by Park Sun-hwan, 60, the woman he married in North Korea.

“My younger sisters applied for the divided family reunions 20 years ago to meet Young-cheol, but I heard that their application was rejected by North Korea,” Seon-deuk said. “I am really lucky to be able to meet him this time.”

As Seon-deuk handed his brother letters from and pictures of family members, they shared stories about everything that had happened to the family during those forty long years. A letter from a nephew in South Korea conveyed the feelings of family members: “All of the family has been anxiously waiting to hear news about you, Uncle.”

Choi Byeong-gwan, 67, also met a half sibling on Thursday and heard the story about his deceased father. His father, who had been living in Seoul, was dragged off as a volunteer soldier during the Korean War, after which he remarried in North Korea.

“I hadn’t heard any news about my father that whole time. Thanks to the reunion, I now know what happened to him. I thought that he had died during the Korean War, so I registered him as missing. Though I’m so happy to hear he survived the war, it would have been nice if I could have met him before he passed away,” Choi said regretfully.

Choi Nam-sun (64, female), whose father was kidnapped by North Korea during the Korean War. “A few years ago, I informed Gangneung City Hall that my father had gone missing during the Korean War. Last Chuseok, the Unification Ministry contacted me to say that my father had been kidnapped by North Korea. All that time I didn’t know the day that my father had died so I was performing the ancestral rites on his birthday. Now I can do the rites on the appropriate day,” Choi said.

At the reunion, Choi met three women who said they were her half-siblings, but after conversing with them, turned out not to be her family. Choi also received a picture of a man said to be her father, which she examined and concluded actually was not her father.

Choi said that even though the three women aren’t her siblings, she proposed for the duration of the reunion events, that they maintain a sibling-like relationship, and the three North Korean people agreed.

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