South and North Korea kicked off the 18th round of reunions of separated families at the reunion center in Mt. Geumgang resort in North Korea on October 30, with the most recent reunions taking place 13 months ago. The split family members from opposite sides of the border sat face to face for the first time in 60 years. They held their hands and hugged one another over and over again, as if to compensate for the long and painful separation, though only for a little while. The oldest South Korean participant, 96-year-old Kim Rye-jeong, felt like her lifelong regrets and sorrows were melting away when she met with her 70-something daughter from North Korea. The daughter, carried away with emotion, made a deep bow to her long-lost mother. In fact, she didn’t even include her mother’s name in the reunion list because she thought her mother had already died. Some 97 North Koreans were reunited with 436 South Korean kin during the first round of two reunion sessions that was held from October 30 to November 1. Two days later, 94 South Koreans met with their North Korean relatives during the second round of reunion sessions. Yonhap News Agency reporter Jang Yong-hun, who covered the event, talks about the significance of the reunions this year, which marked the 60th anniversary of the outbreak of the Korean War.

The latest family reunions came amid the strained inter-Korean relations. Notably, it was North Korea that proposed resuming the reunions around the Korean Thanksgiving holiday of Chuseok, and South Korea accepted the proposal. This year marked the 60th anniversary of the start of the Korean War, and Seoul will host the Group of 20 Summit from November 11. The family reunions right before the G20 Summit hold great symbolic significance, since they demonstrate the ongoing efforts of South and North Korea toward reconciliation.

Among the North Korean participants were four former South Korean soldiers who went missing during the Korean War and were classified in 1957 as killed in action. These four people include 90-year-old Lee Jong-ryeol, Lee Won-jik, Yun Tae-young and Bang Young-won. North Korea continues to deny the existence of any South Korean prisoners of war within its borders, but the North included as many as four former South Korean soldiers on the reunion list. Experts have different interpretations on Pyongyang’s behavior.

North Korea has claimed it had no South Korean prisoners of war detained in its territory. But North Korea included four South Koreans who participated in the Korean War in the list for the family reunions in an apparent move to show that the former South Korean soldiers have lived well in the North Korean regime and therefore to dilute the controversy over the return of South Korean POWs. Even so, this is very unusual for North Korea, which is highly sensitive about the POW issue. Despite its reluctance to touch on this taboo subject, Pyongyang eventually allowed the four South Koreans to be reunited with their relatives from the South. I imagine North Korea seeks to create a reconciliatory mood with South Korea in order to receive aid from Seoul and subsequently to facilitate the ongoing power transfer scheme in the communist nation.

Regarding the former South Korean soldiers who were listed as having died during the Korean War but who have been confirmed to be living in North Korea, many are wondering if there will be any change in their status and in the pension and other government benefits their relatives in the South have been receiving from the government. The Defense Ministry said on November 2 that it would review the legal status of the four former service members who showed up for meetings with their relatives from the South at the latest round of family reunions, after gathering opinions from the Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs as well as the Army. According to the Defense Ministry, 28 former South Korean soldiers who are classified as killed in action have been confirmed alive in North Korea since 2000, and 13 of them participated in reunions with their long-lost kin from South Korea, with one returning to the South. As the number of former South Korean soldiers who have been confirmed to be alive in the North is rising, experts point out that the government must do something now.

The appearance of the four former South Korean soldiers in the family reunions indicates that the government hasn’t been very careful in tallying and managing the list of the war dead or POWs. Based on the testimonies of North Korean defectors, South Korean POWs who returned to the South, family members and the surviving soldiers who served in the same military units with missing soldiers, the government estimates that about 500 South Korean POWs are still alive in North Korea. The government must make efforts to come up with a more precise number of POWs held in the North. In the course of doing so, it’s necessary to engage in candid dialogue with Pyongyang because cooperation from North Korea is essential.

It is also urgent to address the issue of holding the family reunions regularly, as the separated family members are aging fast. As of the end of August this year, 83-thousand separated family members applied for the reunion program. 41 percent of them are over 80 years old, and it is only natural that some give up on participating in the reunions due to health problems. Accordingly, the South Korean Red Cross has proposed to launch active efforts to confirm whether the split families are dead or alive and where they live. Head of the South Korean Red Cross Yoo Jong-ha made this proposal to North Korea’s Red Cross during the recent family reunions, citing the difficulty of holding additional reunions until March next year due to the cold weather. But experts hold a rather pessimistic outlook.

The South Korean government and the Red Cross have continued to propose confirming the whereabouts of a large number of separated families and regularizing the family reunions. However, North Korea has repeatedly expressed reluctance, apparently feeling burdened to deal with this issue. So it’s unlikely that the North will accept Seoul’s proposal in an about-face. Yet, North Korea must cooperate to address this humanitarian concern without conditions, as aged separated family members are passing away day after day. At least to settle the separated family issue, Seoul needs to be more committed to improving relations with Pyongyang.

This week we are reminded of the pain of the unfortunate family members who have endured a 60-year-long separation in tears. The family reunions have also reawakened an urgent need to handle some left-unfinished tasks. Both South and North Korea should adopt a forward-looking attitude to take an important step toward solving this issue, among other bilateral concerns.



[Interview] Defector-Turned-Nursing Student Wins Young Talent Award It’s been more than three years since I came to South Korea. I think I was the first North Korean defector to receive the Korea Young Talent Award. Also, I’m only the second Yonsei student to win the prestigious award, following professional golfer Shin Ji-yai. I feel so excited! This is too big an honor for me to have. I’m wondering if I’m really entitled to it. I should make a lot of efforts to become someone who deserves the award. I hope I can do many good things as a role model for defectors and become a decent member of this society.

This is Cho Su-ah, a North Korean defector who won the 2010 Korea Young Talent Award last month. Granted by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology and the Korea Foundation for the Advancement of Science and Creativity, the Korea Young Talent Award has the purpose of exploring and encouraging talented young people with creativity. This year, the award was given to 40 people, including promising female football star Ji So-yun and former North Korean defector Cho Su-ah, a student at the Nursing Department of Yonsei University. Su-ah received the award in recognition of her efforts to overcome difficulties as a North Korean newcomer and her volunteer activities for disabled people. Despite her tight school schedule, she volunteers to work at the Disabled Students Center at Yonsei University more than 10 hours a week. For her, volunteer work is synonymous with happiness.

The more I engage in volunteer work, the happier I feel. I live alone, and I often feel lonely and depressed. After voluntary services, however, I find myself feeling happier. I feel like disabled people are just like me. They have parents, but they suffer social isolation due to their physical disorders. By the same token, I’m physically healthy but I always feel alienated from society because I came from North Korea. I deeply empathize with the disabled, and I wanted to give them some small hope and laughter.

Su-ah graduated the Cheongjin Medical School and worked as a surgeon in North Korea before defecting to South Korea in 2007. She happened to cross the border into China with her friends out of curiosity about a larger world beyond. But it turned out that she had crossed the line of no return. She was once imprisoned in a North Korean detention center, but she was able to defect to South Korea all alone with the single-minded desire to survive. Yet, her new life in South Korea hasn’t been easy at all. Su-ah tried to transfer to a medical school here but she had to choose a nursing school because she was not qualified to apply for a medical school. As a recipient of the government’s livelihood subsidy, she faces economic difficulties as well. Nevertheless, she’s always thankful for her South Korean life.

For me, English is the most difficult subject to study. But my financial difficulties are the biggest problem. I have to pay my apartment maintenance fees and buy books and meals. Sometimes I just drink water because I don’t have enough money to buy food. Despite this harsh reality, I’m trying to be grateful for the little things I enjoy, with the belief that the situation will be better some day. I recall the first one or two years were really tough. But as time goes by, I feel a lot better.

Su-ah managed to come to South Korea even with great difficulty. That is why she never loses hope and is eager to do anything. She thought she had to cultivate her abilities to stay competitive, and she studied very hard, sleeping only two or three hours a day. Her efforts paid off, as she earned computer-related certificates, a hospital coordinator’s license as well as a counselor’s license for North Korean defectors. She plans to take a medical school transferring exam after finishing her nursing studies. Her favorite proverb is “Heaven helps those who help themselves.”

I wake up every morning to chant my slogan, “I can do it. I’ll try.” Now I’m used to starting something, exploring it and finishing it. My hope is to become a medical doctor, earn a doctorate degree and contribute to upgrading the outdated medical systems in North Korea. I do hope my small dedication will give a big smile to hopeless people in developing countries, including North Korea.

In this lonely land where she has no family, Su-ha is achieving her dream step by step all by herself. Her enthusiasm will surely inspire many of her fellow North Korean expatriates. We applaud her once again for winning the impressive award.