Cho Hun Jung: Pain of the Separated Family

KNCC / WCC : "Light of Peace"  1. März - 15. August 2020
https://www.oikoumene.org/en/get-involved/light-of-peace

Story of Faith, 'Pain of the Separated Family'

From a sermon of Rev. Cho Hun Jung (Hyangrin Church)

"About one quarter of Koreans have been separated from families since the Korean War. This means that many people of two Koreas still live in an abnormal society where they are forced to treat their parents, brothers, and sisters as enemies. Many families have some stories of the pains caused by the division, but today I want to talk about Mr. Yoo. Even though he is eighty-year-old, he is at the forefront of the inter-Korean reconciliation movement. A tragic incident of his childhood has led him to the path of reunification. A few years ago, indeed, his story was published in a magazine.

During the Japanese occupation, Mr. Yoo's parents crossed over to Japan because they can hardly make ends meet in Chosun (Korea). They lived in Nagasaki, Japan where the US detonated the atomic bombs along with Hiroshima, Japan, but fortunately, they burrowed and hid in a mountain when the bombs fell so they did not harm.

He was born in Nagasaki, and he came to Chosun (Korea) on a return ship after Korea gained its independence after 36 years of occupation under the Japanese Colonial rule. One of his sisters lived in Dangjin, South Korea, with her husband, and the rest of our family lived in Sadong, Pyongyang, North Korea where his father worked in a coalmine company. Then the Korean War broke out. At that time, he was just 13 years old.


He recalls the tragic incident that happened in his family, ..."

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