In the Catholic Times a principal of a Korean School in New Malden, England, wrote in her column: Reconciliation and Unity of the work she has done with prisoners of war some years ago.
New Malden is home to the largest South
Korean community in Europe, the home for Koreans living in the UK. They account for around one
third of the area’s population, estimated to be about 10,000.
Around 700 North Koreans currently reside
in New Malden, making it the world’s largest North Korean settlement
outside the Korean peninsula. May they all enjoy the New Harvest Festival that the Koreans are celebrating these days.
In September 2000, 63 non-converted long-term prisoners returned to North Korea. The repatriation was a measure in accordance with the June 29 Joint Declaration. Among them, a teacher Mr. Kim, whose oral life history the columnist later published as a book: "I am a member of the Korean Workers’ Party" (Seonin, 2001).
At that time, her mind was complicated. This is because it reminded her of other people who would not have had the opportunity to leave a record of their lives for posterity. Like Mr. Kim, who returned from the South to the North, there will be many people there who still have to return from the North to the South.
More than 20 years later, she came across the book: "No one came to get me" (Deep Sea Dolphin, 2023) contains the stories of nine South Korean prisoners of war who escaped from North Korea and returned to their hometown after living in captivity in North Korea for over 50 years. She did not know that there were as many as 80,000 South Korean prisoners of war detained in North Korea who could not be repatriated despite the ceasefire. Most of them worked in coal mines, their descendants were discriminated against, and they didn't know that the Korean government wasn't looking for them.
When non-converted long-term prisoners were welcomed on a grand scale in Pyongyang, we could not estimate the sense of disappointment and betrayal they felt. Each individual’s story is amazing. When the war started, it was the People's Army, but later it became the ROK Army. Some people ended up spending their entire lives in coal mines as ROK POWs, while others were captured three days before the signing of the armistice agreement.
I met the author the writer Lee Hye-min (Teresa) who wrote in the preface the reason why she devoted herself to this work for 10 years: "I did not meet the returned South Korean prisoners of war to expose… Neither a liberal nor a conservative, I just listened to and recorded the lives of war victims as a human being... I hope you read this book slowly, remembering the mothers of South Korean POWs who passed away while missing their sons who never returned."
There are still many stories in our land that need to be heard and recorded. Wouldn't there be someone who listens to these stories so that the deep wounds of division in the hearts of those who suffered can be healed even a little? "Sister Hyemin Lee and I prayed together to guide us in what we should do."
