Watching and reading the recent events in the media reminds me of my very emotional meeting with my father in North Korea in October 1989. The Korean Government, for the first time in 1989, allowed Koreans with foreign citizenship to visit North Korea after reporting the purpose to Korean Foreign Affairs, making my reunion with my father possible. Before that, in-person or even remote communication by even Korean-born foreign citizens could be considered a criminal offence on suspicion of espionage and those people could be denied entry into South Korea.
I was separated from my father as a 3-year old in Sept 1950. He was a professional flute player and a lecturer at the Seoul National University. It was fairly easy to locate him because he was well known. He was the only child of my grandmother. My grandma and I were able to visit North Korea without the fear of being reprimanded while visiting South Korea because of the new policy. Her son was a 24-years young handsome man when we were separated. He became a very frail old man when we met him. We were able to visit him several days after our arrival in Pyongyang because of his relocation to a country side after his retirement.
We stayed in North Korea for 3 weeks and were able to see my father, step-mother and 2 step-brothers. The step-brothers are much younger than me because my father waited for 15 years for the reunification of Korea before re-marriage. I told him that my mother left Korea without letting me know of her destination but found her through my cousin in Stockholm in 1979. He hoped my mother with Swedish citizenship could visit him but it was never realized and both of them passed away in 2003. I was not able to see him again.
While we were there, the older step brother wanted get married. It was quite a challenge to secure the permits for the parents to travel to Pyungyang where the wedding will be held. They could not get the permit with a short notice but were able to join us by a special car that can pass the security posts without stopping.
We are very lucky as there are millions of Koreans still looking for their family members. It will be more difficult to connect them as the older generation who can link the young passes away.
This Korean tragedy happened by dividing Korea in 1945 instead of Japan, like dividing Germany after World War II. The US took control of the 38th parallel south and the Soviet Union (USSR) controlled the north. This was extremely unfair, considering the country endured 36 years of very harsh Japanese colonial rule prior to that. Then, on June 25, 1950, the North Korean Forces invaded the South to begin the Korean War. The cease fire agreement was reached on July 27, 1953. This cease fire agreement has been maintained, except for some minor skirmishes over 65 years, until now. Because the war has never ended, North and South Koreans are not allowed visit each other or even communicate each other without the agencies on the both sides allowing them.
The initial proposal of Armistice included a unifying election after the withdrawal of all foreign forces from the Korean Peninsula. The proposal was not accepted with a strong objection of USA and, for 65 years since the Armistice, US forces still remain stationed in South Korea.
The U.S. and North Korea have made several attempts to reach a peace agreement and normalize diplomatic relations but the progress has been very limited. The Singapore Summit between President Trump and Kim Jong-un was a major breakthrough for peace on the Korean Peninsula. If no treaty is reached while Trump has the full control of the U.S. House and Senate, it will not likely happen for a long time. It appears that the time is running out to grab this golden opportunity for the separated Korean families. The result will be that Korean family reunions will remain as a 2-to-3 day intermittent event for about 100 mutually selected people whenever the two Koreas agree to do so.
New Westminster resident Ken Beck Lee immigrated to Canada in 1975 and has been working as professional engineer specializing in climate change and infrastructure.
