Divided Families in US

• Published Nov 25, 2016 4:58 PM KST
• Updated Nov 25, 2016 4:58 PM KST

By Jason Lim

Early in 1950, my Dad was all set to go to Moscow University School of Medicine on a full scholarship. Then the Korean War started in June of 1950. A few months after that, along with tens of thousands of fellow North Koreans, my Dad escaped to the South as U.N. forces retreated in the face of a furious counterattack by the People’s Army of China in the winter of 1950.

On that morning, he left with his whole family, but his Dad sprained an ankle badly on the frozen, treacherous road at the start of the journey. So, my Dad had to go on alone, leaving behind his Dad, Mom, and younger sister. It was imperative that he continue to escape since he was a young man who would have been forcibly conscripted into the North Korean Army or shot outright if he lingered.

“See you soon when the U.N. forces take back Pyongyang again and you can come back home,” his Dad told him. “In the meantime, you take care, my son.” At most, it would only be a few days till they met again, or so they thought.

As with so many Korean families, that was the last time they saw each other, forever wondering what happened to their loved ones. Within a year, his life was turned upside down and would never be the same again. Worse, along with millions like him, he would forever have to deal with an agonizing lack of closure. No wonder someone called it one of the longest running humanitarian crises in the world.

These people are called the Divided Families, which number about 10 million in South Korea. But many folks like my Dad also emigrated to the U.S. They now number about 100,000.

And they finally have a voice, and it’s called the Divided Families US. It’s a national coalition of representatives from 13 states working on the issue of Korean Americans divided from family members; its mission is “to advocate for official reunions between Korean Americans with their family members in North Korea under the protection and support of the U.S. government. The coalition stands together with friends who understand their pain and suffering, government officials who work hard to find political solutions, a new generation that courageously takes on this issue as its own, and people of different cultures who have stood against the human tragedy of divided family members for over 60 years.”

About 18,800 South Korean Divided Families were lucky enough to participate in the 19 rounds of face-to-face reunions that started in 1985. For the Divided Families in the U.S., there have been no such opportunities.

Some Korean Americans have taken it upon themselves to look for their divided family members in North Korea. Lacking official channels, they mostly use black market services that further victimize them with false promises and extortion-like fees, leaving behind shattered hearts and fresh scars.

This is what Divided Families USA seeks to change. It’s the driving force behind H.Con.Res.40, introduced by Korean War veteran, Rep. Charles B. Rangel (D-NY), and Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman, Rep. Ed Royce (R-CA)." H.Con.Res.40 (1) encourages North Korea to allow Korean Americans to meet with their family members from North Korea; and (2) calls on North Korea to take concrete steps to build goodwill that is conducive to peace on the Korean Peninsula."

While the resolution can’t force the U.S. and the North Korean governments to work together to facilitate Divided Families reunions, it will be a watershed moment for the issue by giving it the needed visibility and legitimacy it can be built on.

The “Comfort Women” resolution (H.Res. 121) that passed in July 2007 performed a similarly critical function in making official the comfort women issue and bringing it out from an old, esoteric, and ethnic issue to a universal human rights problem that’s still relevant today. And look at what has happened since then on that issue.

H.Res. 40 can likewise reposition Divided Families from an emotional but ultimately irrelevant sideshow to the whole North Korean policy debate to a humanitarian crisis deserving of dedicated attention. It would also allow the U.S. to act on its stated policy of delineating political considerations from humanitarian efforts, which should be based only on need and the availability of resources. Well, the need is obvious and painful. And the only resource needed is the political courage to do the right thing. But time is of the essence.

“Every day counts. Time is running out,” says Cha-hee Lee Stanfield, executive director of the National Coalition for the Divided Families USA. “In 10 years, they’ll all be gone.”

“This is not a political matter,” Stanfield continues. “This is a humanitarian issue. We would like to see the U.S. government take the initiative in opening up dialogue with North Korea. And North Korea might respond.”

Jason Lim is a Washington, D.C.-based expert on innovation, leadership and organizational culture. He has been writing for The Korea Times since 2006. Reach him at jasonlim@msn.com, facebook. com/jasonlimkoreatimes or @jasonlim2012.