“We Thought We Had No Unsatisfied Grudge, But Our Longing for Family in North Korea Gets Bigger.”

“If my father could see cute tricks of Yeoul for just once…”

Yoo, In-Ja (61. Yeon-San Dong, Yeon-Je Gu) recalls her father Yoo, Yeol (84. former Professor at Kim Il-Sung University) whenever she sees her two-year-old granddaughter Yeoul.

Her father, who is the founder of North Korean circle of Korean language studies, named Yeoul by himself. The Yeoul’s name, which means that all the bodies of water in South and North Korea meets at a neck of a rapid and flows into deep rivers and wide open seas, contains her father’s hope for reunification.

Ms. Yoo, who hanged the enlarged pictures of her father at a wall and looks at it everyday, said it would be the biggest ‘gift’ for her entire life to meet her father.

The ‘8.15 Reunion of the Dispersed Families’ made the whole Korean Peninsular as a sea of tears two years ago. After that, the dispersed families are keeping the live memories and priceless ‘gifts’ of their family members that they met in half a century, and they are looking forward to meeting them again.

Ms. Jung, Nam-Hui (55. Hyo-Ja Dong, Jun-Joo City, Chonbook), a sister of the famous North Korean People’s Artist Jung, Chang-Mo (70), had a even bigger longing for her brother after meeting him.

Although she did not have much memory of her brother since they were separated when she was four years old, she was keen on her brother as much as she suffered form depression for six month after meeting her brother. She is keeping a picture of chrysanthemum, which her brother gave to her, in her closet, taking out carefully, looking at it for long time, and putting it back again.

The ever-weakening old members of separated families keep a piece of hope in their mind.

Mr. Jang, Ee-Yun, who made the whole nation heartbroken because he was expecting to meet his mother, the oldest member of dispersed families with 109 years of age, but he heard that his mother passed away already, starts his day by climbing the Ku-Duck Mountain everyday.

“I must be healthy to bow to my mother’s tomb later…”

Although he says he does not want anything, he cannot help to get some careful hope to visit his mother’s tomb.

Ms. Shin, Jae-Soon (90) spends her days alone at the Naewonjung Temple by waiting for the ‘good day’ to meet his son again after meeting him before.

She wiped her dry tears and said, “a person who visited North Korea last year brought my son’s letter telling ‘I would go to you on the day of reunification if you live long.’”

She could not continue her speaking after saying, “I thought I had no other unsatisfied grudge when I met him, but….” She believes that if she hopes really hard the reunification will come true just like she met her son after praying to Buddha for twenty years.

There was full of hope for the reunification and longing for her son on her wrinkled face.

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