Lee Dae-bong, who is 92 years old, has reached the point in his life that he finds it difficult to get out of bed. He has experienced enough of life to satisfy him. As he readjusts his pajamas, it can be seen that three of his fingers on his left hand are missing.
His damage is not the product of the war in which he served; rather, it is the result of the succeeding 54 years in which he was compelled to labor in a North Korean coal mine.
During the Korean War, the Chinese soldiers who were fighting on the side of North Korea took captive the former South Korean soldier who was fighting on the other side. It was the 28th of June in 1953, the first day of the battle of Arrowhead Hill, and there was less than a month left before the armistice brought an end to three grueling years of fighting.
His whole platoon perished that day, with the exception of three members. When he and the two other survivors were loaded onto a cargo train, he thought they were going to head home to South Korea. However, the train turned north and went to the Aoji coal mine, which is where he would spend the majority of his life working. His loved ones were informed that he had been killed in action.
Following the signing of an armistice agreement that separated the Korean Peninsula at the conclusion of the Korean War, anywhere between 50,000 and 80,000 South Korean soldiers were taken prisoner in North Korea.
There was never an agreement reached for a peace treaty, and the prisoners were never released. Mr. Lee was one of the very few people who were successful in devising his own plan to flee.
The armistice has, for the most part, remained in effect over the course of the years, making this the longest ceasefire in the annals of military conflict.
However, the lack of peace has wreaked havoc not just on Mr. Lee's life, but also on the lives of his fellow prisoners and the families of those detainees. Their experiences serve as a sobering reminder that the Korean War is not yet finished as North and South Korea mark 70 years since the signing of the deal that ended the conflict.
Mr. Lee was forced to labor in a coal mine for the first few years of his incarceration, followed by a week of studying the philosophy of North Korea. This routine continued until 1956, when he and the other prisoners were ordered to marry and integrate themselves into society, after which they were stripped of their military titles and allowed to marry.
On the other hand, they and their new families were labeled as outcasts and positioned at the very bottom of North Korea's rigorous social rank system.
Mr. Lee adds that the prospect of getting hurt or dying while working in the coal mines day in and day out for more than half a century was the most difficult thing he had to contend with at that time.
One day, his hand became trapped in a machine that processed coal, but the amputation of his fingers didn't seem like a big deal when he considered the fact that he had seen several of his colleagues die in a succession of explosions caused by methane gas.
"We gave our entire youths to that coal mine, waiting for and fearing a meaningless death at any moment," he recalls. "We had no idea what we were getting ourselves into." I had a terrible time being away from home, especially from my family. Even animals, when they sense that their time on earth is drawing to a close, make their way back to their dens.
Many of the people who were imprisoned during the Korean War, as well as their families, hold both North and South Korea responsible for the pain and suffering they endured during the conflict.
There have been multiple meetings between South Korean and North Korean leaders, but ensuring the defectors' return has not been a high priority at any of those meetings.
The North has refused to admit the existence of any additional inmates despite having only released 8,000 of them.
The topic was not discussed at all during the summit that took place in 2000 between the current president of South Korea, Kim Dae-jung, and the current leader of North Korea, Kim Jong-il.
At this point, according to Lee Dae-bong, he had completely given up hope, having realized that the only way he would ever be able to return home was if he were to escape.
Mr. Lee started his voyage three days after the death of his only son, who was killed in a mine accident; his wife had passed away a long time before. At the age of 77, he sneaked across the river into China by wading through water that reached up to his neck.
Only 13 of the 80 detainees who fled and made it back to South Korea are still alive. He is one of the 80 prisoners who escaped and made it home. There were still tens of thousands of inmates left, and they were abandoned in the mines to die. It seems unlikely that any of them are still alive, yet their offspring are still around.
When Chae Ah-in's father was killed in a gas explosion at a North Korean mine, Chae Ah-in was only six years old at the time. Soon after, her older sisters were delegated to perform his duties instead of him.
While she was still in school, she was bullied and battered on a regular basis. She was unable to comprehend the reason why her family was doomed. She didn't find out her father had been in the South Korean military until much later, when she overheard her sisters discussing among themselves.
She tells the story from her house on the outskirts of Seoul, where she has lived since her arrival in 2010. "For a long time I hated him," she says. "I was so angry at him for causing all of us to be miserable."
Ms. Chae, at the age of 28, made the decision to flee her tormenting life in North Korea. She initially made her way into China, where she spent the next decade of her life. It wasn't until she moved to South Korea that she understood her father had done heroic things for the country.
"Now I respect him, and I make it a point to remember him," she says. "I try so hard to remember him." "Because I am the proud daughter of a South Korean war veteran, I feel different compared to other North Korean defectors," she said. "I was born in South Korea."
However, the South Korean government does not recognize Ms. Chae as the daughter of a soldier who sacrificed his life for the country. Her father was a member of the military.
Those prisoners of war (POWs) who were taken captive during a conflict but never returned home are considered to have perished and are not recognized as war heroes.
"South Korea exists today thanks to people like my father, but our suffering has still not been solved," she says, wishing for them both to be recognized for who they are. "Our suffering has still not been solved," she continues.
There are around 280 children of POWs who have made it to South Korea after escaping North Korea. Another individual advocating for them is Son Myeong-hwa, who is the chairperson of the Korean War POW Family Association and is leading the charge.
"The children of the POWs in North Korea suffered the agony of guilt by association, but here in South Korea we are not acknowledged," she said. "The children of the POWs in South Korea are not acknowledged." "We want to be accorded the same respect that is given to the families of other veterans who have passed away," she said.
According to information provided to us by the South Korean government, there are no current plans to alter the way that veterans are categorized.
When Lee Dae-bong finally made it home as an elderly man, both of his parents and his brother were already deceased. Even though South Korea had transformed beyond recognition, his younger sister insisted on taking him back to his hometown so he could put his feet back on the ground there.
Mr. Lee recalls how his North Korean colleagues who were nearing the end of their lives would implore their children to one day bury them in the communities where they had grown up. Their requests have not been satisfied as of yet. And because there is no peace between North and South Korea, many families are finding it extremely difficult to achieve peace within their own homes.
Chae Ah-in and Lee Dae-bong both haven't given up hope of seeing the North and the South become one country.
Mrs. Chae has expressed a desire to lay her father's remains to rest in South Korea.
Peace and reunification of the Korean peninsula is still the officially stated objective of both North and South Korea. However, it has been 70 years since the armistice, and this goal seems even further away now.
No comments:
Post a Comment