Seoul, Korea
CNN
–
Min Young-Jae has not seen or heard anything about her eldest son in 75 years. He was 19 years old and she was 2 years old when he was lured north in the early days of the Korean War.
“We were known as a happy family in our neighborhood,” the 77-year-old told CNN.
Their peaceful days were crushed on June 25, 1950, when North Korea invaded the south. The three-year war will kill more than 847,000 troops and around 522,000 civilians from both sides, tearing more than 100,000 families, including Min.
After the war, the family kept the rusty doors of the tile shop home open, hoping that their eldest son would return one day. But over time, barbed wire was installed between the two Koreas, replacing modern apartments with homes.
75 years have passed without a word about the brothers or from them, but Min and her brothers hope to hear about him one day. Or, if not him, his children or grandchildren.
The family lived in Dang Ninm Village, located between green mountains on the west side of Chinchon city, about 100 kilometers northeast of Seoul. It was a village village where bright birds, water flowing and tractor biting.
It was also dangerously close to the 38th parallel and the peninsula that divided the peninsula after World War II.
Min Young Zee, the youngest of seven, does not remember fighting any of his growing siblings. They share only the tofu made by her parents, splashing across the stream and carried on the shoulders of their eldest son.
Handsome, kind and clever, Min Young San followed in the footsteps of his father, the principal of Dang Ninm Elementary School, studying at Changcheon National University of Education.
“His nickname was ‘Math Whiz’. He was good at math and even his classmates called him the math with,” said Min John Ja, the fifth child in the family.
One day, students followed him the whole time when he commutes by train or boat and asked him to teach mathematics, the sisters recalled.
The sisters remember Min Young Sang as a caring brother. They caught fish, splashed them in nearby streams, and are now widely covered with reeds and weeds, almost entirely from the water.
“We grew up with real happiness,” Min Jungja said.
Min Young-Jae sends a message to his tempted brother
Living near the frontier between newly separated South Korea, backed by the power of communist and capitalist rival ideology – Min’s family was one of the first to experience the horrors of the Korean War.
When Kim Il Sung’s North Korean troops invaded, Min Jung Ja remembers seeing his grandmother running in tears.
“We were scared, so we all hid in the mountains. One day we hid four-year-old Young Jae in the bushes and forgot to bring her back because there were so many brothers. When we returned that night, she was still there.
While the family was in and out of the mountains and taking shelter from the army coming from the north, Min Young Seung was lured and taken north by his teacher.
“The teacher gathered and carried clever students (away) and he took dozens of students.
It is unclear why the teacher invited students to North Korea, but the South Korean government assumes that Pyongyang had accused Koreans to supplement its military.
“People called teachers comedy,” said Min John Ja.
That heartache was soon followed by another: the second death of the brother of Erdest. According to the sisters, he died of shock and pain from deep sadness from the brother’s invitation.
“The sadness was enormous. Your parents lost two sons. Imagine how miserable it could be,” Min Jungja said.
For his father, the pain of losing two sons was overwhelming. He developed panic disorder, she said, and would struggle to work for the rest of his life.
“He couldn’t go outside. He was always at home, and he was so shocked that he had a hard time going through life every day.
The mother jumped to earn a living for her remaining five children and her husband. Still, every morning she filled the bowl with pure water as part of the ritual of the Korean people, leaving the first scoop of family meals that she had served in the bowl for her son, whom she believed would one day return that day.
“She couldn’t move the house. If the brothers can’t find a way home. She didn’t let us change anything at the door or anything at the house. That’s how she was waiting for him… We waited a long time, and time passed.”
Min Jeong-Ja was eight years old when the war began, but he witnessed atrocities that overwhelmed many adults.
“So many children have passed away. When I went out to the river, I sometimes saw their bodies floating around,” she recalled.
She remembers witnessing North Korean soldiers lined up people in a field of barley and shooting them with submachine guns. “Then, one at a time, they fell into a field of barley.”
“I saw too many. At one point I didn’t even know if the soldier was Korean or North Korea, but I saw the ruins that were beheaded.”
The Min family is one of many families torn apart by the war. More than 134,000 people are waiting for contact from their loved ones who are believed to be in North Korea. This is currently one of the most hidden states in the world, and travel between the two countries is not possible.
A few years after the Korean War, the two South Koreas discussed organizing reunions for separated families identified by both sides through the Red Cross and both governments.
The first reunion took place in 1985, more than 30 years after the ceasefire agreement was signed, and the annual reunion began in 2000.
Min Young Jae sings “My Brother’s Thoughts” in reminiscence of her tempted brother
Once the two governments agree to the date of reunion, one of the two South Koreans will select a family, prioritizing the elderly and immediate relatives, and checking across the family to see a list of the other members.
Selected families meet in an office specially built for reunion at Mount Kungang Resort in North Korea.
The Min brothers have been applied to the Red Cross at least five times, cited themselves as a family separated under the Korean government. But the brothers’ place from the other side never had words.
Over the course of 75 years, the brothers grew up, got married and formed their own family, but they were asked about the stolen brother, Ringer.
Worse, the annual reunion of separated families has been suspended since 2018, and the summit has failed after a failed summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong in Hanoi, and died as a direct casualty during the war era.
The Kumgang resort was demolished by the North in 2022 amidst a tense tension.
However, following their parents’ wishes, the siblings hope to connect with Min Young Sang, who is still 94 years old.
“My brother Young Sang, that’s already 75,” Min Young Jae told CNN camera, taking off her glasses to recognize her sister’s face.
“It’s been a long time since we left, but if you’re alive, I’m very grateful. If not, I still want to see your child. I want to share the love of my family.
She and her brother remember the brother who was invited to sing his favorite song, “Thinking of My Brother.”
“My brother, you said you’ll be coming back from Seoul with silk shoes,” Min Young Jae said, her sister wiped away her tears.
