[Lee
Su-nam says time has made his 86-year-old brother’s memory fade but that
‘everyone is still family’]
By Benjamin
Haas in Seoul
 |
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South
Korean Lee Su-nam on his way to meet his brother Lee Jeong-song
in
North Korea. Photograph: Kim Hong-Ji/Reuters
|
The moment Lee Su-nam walked into an ornate
hotel ballroom in North Korea and laid eyes on his brother for the first time
in almost 70 years, he was filled with bittersweet emotions. It was a joyous
reunion, but he struggled to recognise the man across from him, and will likely
never see him again.
The two men wept and embraced, but both were
at a loss for words and Su-nam, 76, could not think of what to say to his
brother, 86-year-old Lee Jeong-song, who he thought had died long ago in the
chaos and fog of the Korean war, which ended in 1953.
For three days this week, 89 elderly South
Koreans were given 11 hours to spend time with relatives they had not seen in
over six decades. The family reunions are part of a rapprochement between the
two Koreas that started at the beginning of the year and have seen tensions
over the North’s nuclear program subside.
Reunions of a lifetime as South Koreans head
north – in pictures
After fighting back his tears, Su-nam began
to reminisce about their childhood growing up in Seoul, only to discover his
brother had trouble recalling details that happened a lifetime ago.
“Time had made his memories fade away,”
Su-nam said. “It was strange seeing my brother as an old man. He aged so much.
“I thought if we had the chance to meet in
the past, he would have remembered more about our memories,” he added.
The last time they were together, his brother
was 18 years old and was preparing to travel south, hoping to avoid
conscription in the approaching North Korean army. But Jeong-song’s escape was
unsuccessful and he was pressed into military service.
After the end of the war, he made a life for
himself in North Korea working as a factory manager in North Pyongan province,
which sits on the border with China. He married and had a son, and both his
wife and son accompanied him to the reunion. Su-nam talked about his life in
Seoul, where he lived in the same neighbourhood his entire life and worked as a
driver and a security guard.
“I thanked [his wife] for being by my
brother’s side for all the years,” Su-nam said, adding that despite the long
time apart “we are still brothers and everyone is still family”.
Their favourite moment was the three hours
where they could meet in the privacy of a hotel room, away from the other
families and North Korean minders. They spent most of their time simply getting
know know each other all over again, filling in a lifetime of blank spaces.
Su-nam brought his brother nutritional
supplements, medicine, socks, underwear and towels, items prized in North Korea
for their quality. Jeong-song returned the favour with three bottles of strong
liquor, a tablecloth and ornate fabric for making clothes.
But it was a meeting that almost never
happened. Su-nam for years did not apply for the chance of at a reunion
alongside 57,000 other South Koreans, assuming his brother was dead, but took a
chance this round and was notified his brother was alive on 25 July.
The reunions this week were the first since
2015 and most of the participants were elderly, raising fears time is running
out for more families to be reunited. There have been 20 rounds since the
program began in 2000.
The fear that he would never see his brother
again still haunted Su-nam the day after he returned from North Korea. Neither
the South Korean government nor the Red Cross, which organised the reunion,
could say if the families would be allowed to maintain any form of contact.
“One of my lifelong wishes has been
fulfilled,” Su-nam said. “But it was very sad seeing my brother and his family
waving goodbye to us as our bus left.
“It was a goodbye without a guarantee of us
meeting again. The separation has scarred us again ... it is now another time
for sadness and suffering.”
But before the two brothers parted,
Jeong-song was hopeful about the future.
“Stay in good health so we can meet again,”
he told Su-nam.
With additional reporting by Junho Lee.
