98 year-old father has been apologetic for 58 years.

Kim, Jae Hyun, Yon Hap News, New York Correspondent

 

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“I am sorry.  So sorry for leaving (home) alone and living in (South  Korea).  I wish I could find out whether they are still alive.”

The 98-year-old Korean-American met with a reporter at his home in Englewood, New Jersey, and repeatedly said, “I am so sorry to my children whom I left in North Korea.”

“I was born in 1912, which is the same year in which Prime Minister Kim Il Sung was born.  Mr. Lee’s home town is Pyong Ahn Book Do, Yong Chun-gun, Nae Joong Myun Songsahn Dong (평안북도 용천군 내중면 송산동).    He was a railroad worker for the government when Korea was under Japanese rule.   (After Korea became independent), he owned a noodle restaurant named Ahp Kang Myun Chum (압강면점), and he sold a thousand noodle dishes a day in Sin-ue-joo (신의주).      Then, the Korean War broke out.

 In October, 1950, in order to get away from the bombing, he followed the U.S. Army and came to the South alone.   He left his 34-year-old wife, three sons and three daughters:  Taehyun, Yongja, Tae Young, Taesook, Tae Yun, and Taeok.  Then, the oldest son was a junior at high school and the youngest wasn’t even a year old.  If she is still alive, she will be almost 70 years old. 

When he left home, he thought he would be back home in a month, but he couldn’t go home for 58 years.   In South Korea, he graduated from the police academy and worked as the head of the investigation department in Chun Nam Province, and after that, he was the chief of staff for the governor of the province, and later on, he was in charge of the Yong San Po Agricultural Union.

But during all these years, he never forgot about his home even for a minute, and when he retired in 1970, he moved to Paju , Kyung gido, and he joined the refugee farmers  from North Korea and farmed.

In 1992, he moved to New Jersey to live with his son (Tae Hun) and his son’s wife.  But his homesickness has gotten worse.  He has been watching Korean news and listening to the Korean radio, and he has been making notes on news about North Korea.

He has tried numerous times to see his children.  In 2003, he joined a divided family group and went to Pyongyang to look for his family (without success).    After he returned home, the North Korean government informed him that they “had found the family.”  Mr.  Lee bought a ticket to leave for Pyongyang, but on the date when he was supposed to leave (for Pyongyang), they found out that it was for someone else who had the same name as his.

His son Taehun said,“My father was a capitalist when he was in North Korea, and  he was a policeman in South Korea, and these two  things might have put his North Korean family into a difficult situation.” 

He said that several years ago, his father paid for an advertisement on Yong gil radio (in Manchuria, the broadcast intended for North Korean defectors) trying to locate anyone who might know about his family in North Korea.  Through the advertisement,  a defector  from Sin-ui-joo (in North Korea) contacted his father and said that he had heard that his oldest  son  had passed away, but the second son was living somewhere in Hamkyong-do. 

 

Until a year ago, Mr. Lee voluntarily cleaned his neighborhood streets, but since injuring his leg, he has been considerably deteriorating.    But he is still healthy enough that he took a trip to Korea a few months ago.  His only problem is hearing.  In order to communicate with him, his family members have to write. 

During the interview with the reporter, he said, “The only reason I am still alive is to go back home.  If walking is allowed to go back home, I will walk all the way home.   I will happily die the next day if I can go home and am allowed to be buried with my ancestors at home.  I constantly worry whether they have enough to eat.   I wish I could go home and farm to provide enough food for them.”

Mr. Lee’s desperate story was told to Mark Choi,  (who was in the 11th year at Horace Mann School, New Jersey),  a volunteer worker at Eugene Bell Foundation’s Saemsori Project.   Mark’s father, Mr. Yun-suk Choi, reported the story in the Korean community.

On the 2nd, the Korean community in New York and New Jersey is meeting at Mr. Choi’s Manhattan restaurant to support Congressman Mike Honda, who was a leading politician in the passage of  the resolution on the Korean Comfort Women, and Mr. Choi said, “We informed the congressman about Mr. Lee and asked for help. “  “If the U. S Congress works on this issue, there is hope for Mr. Lee to see his children in his lifetime.”


"미안한 마음 뿐이지. 혼자 (남으로) 내려와 사는 것이.. 생사 확인만이라도 했으면 좋겠는데..."

올해 한국나이로 98세인 재미교포 리근 씨는 1 뉴저지주 잉글우드의 자택에서기자와 만나 "북에 두고 아이들에게 미안하다" 얘기를 여러 차례 반복했다.

"1912 김일성 주석과 같은 해에 태어났다" 씨는 평안북도 용천군 내중면송산동 출신으로 일제 철도 공무원 하다가 6.25 전쟁이 터질 때까지 평안북도 신의주에서 `압강면점'(鴨江麵店) 운영하면서 하루에 냉면을 1천그릇씩 팔았다고 한다.

1950 10 그는 폭격을 피해 미군을 따라 혈혈단신 월남했다. 당시 34세이던 오금주 씨와 태현.영자.태영.태숙.태윤.태옥 33녀를 고향에 남겨 놓았다. 아들은 13세로 중학교 1학년이었고 , 지금 살아있다면
환갑 됐을 막내 태옥은 생후 1년도 안된 젖먹이었다.  있다가 다시 돌아갈 것이라고 생각하고 혼자 떠나온 고향에는 이후 58년동안 갈수 없었다.  월남해서 경찰 전문학교 단기 수료한 그는 전남 도경 수사과장, 전남지사 비서실장과 영산포 수리조합장을 역임했다.

그러나 고향 생각을 한시도 잊어본 적이 없는 그는 1970년대초 퇴직후 경기도 파주로 옮겨가 실향민들과 민통선 내에서 농사를 지으면서 살았다.  1992 아들(태헌) 내외가 정착해 있는 뉴저지로 옮겨왔다.
미국 와서 고향이 더욱 그리워진 그는 하루도 빠짐없이 한국 신문과 방송 뉴스를 보면서 북한 관련 소식을 메모해 왔다.

가족 상봉도 여러 차례 시도했다. 2003년에는 재미 실향민 방북단의 일원으로 평양을 방문해 가족들의 소식을 수소문했다. 당시 북쪽에서 "가족들을 찾았다" 연락이 다시 평양을 가려고
비행기표까지 끊어 놨지만, 출발 당일 "동명이인이었다" 소식에 좌절한 적도 있었다.

태헌 씨는 "아버님이 북한에서 자본가 계급이었고, 월남까지 데다 남한에서
경찰공무원 지내 북쪽 가족들이 어려운 상황에 처했을 것으로 추측된다" 말했다.

그는 " 탈북자 중에 혹시 아는 사람이 있나 싶어 연길 방송에
광고 적이 있는데, 신의주 출신의 탈북자로부터 형은 사망했고 둘째 형은 함경도 어딘가에 있다는 얘기를 들은 적이 있다" 안타까움을 털어 놓았다.

1 전만 해도 잉글우드 자택 주변의 동네길
청소 도맡아 했던 `망백의 노인' 다리를 다친 이후 많이 쇠약해졌다. 그럼에도 한국 여행 다녀올 정도로 여전히 건장하다.  다만 가는귀가 먹어 가족들과의 대화는 글로 적어 물어보면 노인이 읽은 대답하는 식이다.

씨는 이날 인터뷰에서 "지금까지 살고 있는 목적은 고향에 가겠다는 생각 때문이다. 걸어서라도 있으면 가고 싶고, 통일이 다음날 고향 선산에 묻히면 그만"이라며 "먹고 살기도 어렵다는데 얼마나 고생들 하는지, 가서 농사를 지으면서 배불리 먹이고 싶은 생각 "이라고 말했다.

씨의 절박한 소식은 유진벨 재단이 운영하는 재미 교포 이산가족 돕기
프로그램 `샘소리'에서 자원봉사를 하고 있는 마크 (뉴저지 호레이스맨 고교 11학년) 군이 알게됐고, 군의 아버지 최윤석씨를 통해 교포사회에 알려졌다.

일본군 위안부 결의안의 주역인
마이크 혼다 하원의원을 위한 뉴욕.뉴저지 한인후원 모임 오는 2 자신의 맨해튼 식당에서 예정인 씨는 "혼다 의원에게 씨의 사연을 얘기하고 도움을 요청해 놨다"면서 " 의회 차원에서 움직인다면 생전에 상봉이 가능할 수도 있다" 말했다.