격강천리 (隔江千里)
격강천리라더니,
바라보고도 못가는 고향일세
한강이 임진강과 예성강은 만나 바다로 흘러드는데
인간이 최고라더니 날짐승만도 못하구나
새들은 날아서 고향을 오고 가련만
내눈에는 인간을 조롱하듯 보이누나
비 오듯 쏟아지는 포탄속에 목숨을 부지하려 허둥지둥 나왔는데
부모형제 갈라져 반 백년이 왠 말인가?
함께 나온 고향친구 뿔뿔히 흩어지고
백발이 되어 저 세상 간 사람 많은데
남은 사람 고향발 디딜 날 그 언젠가!
The Thousand-Mile River
A poem by a divided family member
Lee Bum-og (88)
translated by Simone Chun and Derek Jaeger
The narrow river separating us may as well be a thousand miles wide
I can see a home to which I cannot return
The Han River that meets the Imjin and the Yaesung flows to the ocean
It is said that humans are highest order of creation
But we are more wretched than any beast
Birds fly to their homes and return
To my eyes, birds scorn humans.
How can there be a half-century of separation between brothers and sisters, between parents and children?
Amid the rain of bombs,
I fled to save my life
The friends who fled have all dispersed here and there
With silvery hair they are soon to depart this world.
Can those who still live ever feel the soil of home beneath their feet?
21차 이산가족상봉 뉴스, 사진들을 보면서 어떤 생각을 하셨습니까? 너무나 순진하고 착하게만 보이는 분들입니다. 억울합니다. 그래서 시를 읽어야 했습니다. 전 세계 유일하게 분단된 나라, 68년 전쟁중인 나라란 수치감과 함께 반드시 우리 한반도 평화 구축해야 한다는 결심을 해 봅니다. 문재인 대통령께서 더 용기있게 남북한 주체가 된 평화프로세스 추진, 반드시 성공하기 위해 단결합시다. 우리 세대의 역사적 사명입니다. 이런 역사적인 사명을 수행할 기회 가진 것 너무나 영광이라고 생각하지 않습니까?
--시몬천 드림
Let us pray for our brothers in the north… we are one family…Help us reach unity. You can do it. So that there are no victors or vanquished. Just one family, only brothers… You are brothers who speak the same language… think of brothers in the north. They speak the same language and when in a family the same language is spoken there is a human hope. Pope Francis on Korean unity. 한가족인 남북한 위한 프란시스 교황 기도
Dear Friend—a quick update about the heartbreaking news on Korean family reunions.
•This week, two Koreas hold reunions of family members separated by the 1950-53 Korean War.
•It is 21st reunion and the first since October 2015 as a result of the historic inter-Korean summit in April when leaders of the two Koreas in April agreed to resume reunions of war-separated Korean families.
•The 1950-53 Korean War left 10 million divided family members.
•92 separated family members from South Korea and 88 from North Korea will meet at North Korea’s Mount Kumgang resort.
•37% of participants of the reunion are over 90 years old.
•The oldest divided family is 101 years old.
•6 meetings (2-hour each): 11 hours in total.
Imagine that you have only 11 hours (the first and last time) with your loved ones that you get to meet for the first time in 68 years.
Many thanks to President Moon, Chairman Kim Jong-un, and President Trump for making this small dream for the most unfortunate people (divided family members) possible. The Impossible Is Possible! Please support the Korean peace process!
Let us together replace memories of fear, hatred, and war with those of reconciliation, hopes and dream!
1. Simone Chun. Op-ed and interview on the tragedy of the Korean War.
“Sea of Tears: The Tragedy of Families Split by the Korean War”. Common Dreams and Counterpunch. 시몬천. “눈물의 바다: 한국 전쟁 이산가족의 비극”. 형제, 자매, 부모 생이별 반백년 왠말인가?
'How can there be a half-century of separation between brothers and sisters, between parents and children?'
This past July marked the 65th anniversary of the armistice that halted the Korean War. In addition to leaving nearly 5 million dead, injured, or missing, this bloody conflict forcibly separated nearly 10 million Korean families on either side of the 38th parallel.
https://www.commondreams.org/views/2018/08/17/sea-tears-tragedy-families-split-korean-war
https://www.counterpunch.org/2018/08/21/sea-of-tears-the-tragedy-of-families-split-by-the-korean-war/
이상 SBS 캡처
“Human Face” of Korean War on Display as Torn Apart Families Reunite.
Interview with John Kiriakou and Brian Becker. Loud and Clear. North and South Korea family reunions in Korea show need for lasting peace. 시몬천 인터뷰. 68년만의 기다림, 오직 11시간 해후. 이산가족상봉은 한국전쟁휴전 당시 일천만 생이별 이산가족, 한국 전쟁 비극의 피해자인 사람들의 모습, 얼굴을 보여준다.
"This [the separation of families] is the most tragic part of the Korean War, [which] as you know, has not ended and is temporarily halted…"The Korean War has been going on for 68 years. As you recall, about 10 million Korean families were at the time separated. At the time, they thought the separation was temporary, but then, it became permanent. This [the reunion] is the most important development of the inter-Korean summit [with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in in recent months]… it will show the human face of the Korean War and help us to emphasize the humanitarian aspect…"They [the analysts] are saying that North Korea is using this as propaganda, and this is just manipulation. You read these very cynical reports of a very heartbreaking family reunion," Chun said, also adding that the US has been "obstructionists for the permanent peace settlement in Korea."
https://sputniknews.com/analysis/201808211067349098-korean-war-displays-human-face/
2. Nan Kim. Memory, Reconciliation, and Reunion in South Korea. 난김 교수. 기억, 화해와 남한의 가족 상봉. 내전과 국제전쟁인 냉전하 한반도에서 적대감을 상호 인정과 교류를 가능케 하는 이산가족상봉 분석 우수한 연구.
Drawing on reinterpretations of melancholia and collective remembrance, Memory, Reconciliation, and Reunions in South Korea: Crossing the Divide explores the multi-layered implications of divided Korea's liminality, or its perceived "in-betweenness" in space and time. Offering a timely reconsideration of the pivotal period following the inter-Korean Summit of June 2000, this book focuses on a series of emotionally charged meetings among family members who had lost all contact for over fifty years on opposite sides of the Korean divide. With the scope of its analysis ranging from regional geopolitics and watershed political rituals to everyday social dynamics and intimate family narratives, this study provides a lens for approaching the cultural process of moving from a disposition of enmity to one of recognition and engagement amid the complex legacies of civil war and the global Cold War on the Korean Peninsula.
3. CNN. Mom to see son for first time in 68 years. 시엔엔. 68년동안 처음 아들과 상봉할 어머니.
https://www.cnn.com/videos/world/2018/08/17/south-korea-family-reunions-anticipation-hancocks-dnt-vpx.cnn
4. Deutsche Welle News. Separated by war more than 60 years ago these elderly South Koreans finally got the chance to reunite with their relatives in the North. But this could also be the last time they’ll ever see each other. 60여년 생이별 당한 한국의 노인들 북한 가족과 상봉. 그러나 처음이자 마지막 만남일 것이다. 독일공영방송.
https://twitter.com/dwnews/status/1031837563139514369
5. Fox News. Approximately 200 South Koreans and their family members crossed into North Korea to meet with relatives most haven’t seen since they were separated during the Korean War. Here are some reunions, more than six decades.
200여명의 남한 가족들 60여년만 처음 북한 가족들 만나다. 미국 폭스뉴스.
https://twitter.com/FoxNews/status/1031816172759597056
6. BBC Asia. This is Ahn Jung-soon from North Korea. She’s feeding her 100-year old South Korean father. Just one of many emotional Korea family reunions. When Asked if he recognized her, Mr. Ahn (hard of hearing) couldn’t respond verbally. Instead, tears ran down his face.
68년만에 처음 100살 연세 남한 아버지 밥한술 드리는 북한의 자녀. 비비시 아시아.
https://twitter.com/BBCNewsAsia/status/1031812521848700928
7. The Republic of Korea. TheBlueHouseKR. “살아서 고맙다”. 대한민국 청와대.
“Thank you for being alive”.
https://twitter.com/TheBlueHouseKR/status/1031713971022127106
8. Affliction and gratitude: words of divided family members:
“This opportunity is like a miracle. It is the happiest day in my life”.
Yu Gwan-sik (89) who me with his 67-year old daughter for the first time in 68 years. He didn’t know about his wife’s pregnancy when he was separated from his wife.
“Perhaps, I’m getting closer to death and this meeting has come at a good time.”
Lee Shi Deuk (95).
“He deliberately built his house on an island where the DPRK [North Korea] can be seen on the other side across the water.”
“I am not sure if I’ll be able to recognize him… I don’t even remember his face when he was four. I can’t believe I will be meeting him. It feels like a dream.”
Gwon (93): Her son had died but is survived by two sons. Gwon will meet her 2 grandsons. “I have missed my son for all my life.”
Kim Yong-ja (74): To meet her brother (63). No memories of her dead father but missing him terribly. In 1985, she applied for reunion but her father died. “How much time I wanted to call `Daddy’. He isn’t there anymore.”
Hwang Woo-suk (89): To meet his daughter for the first time in 68 years. He had been separated from his 3-year old daughter. “How difficult her life must have been, how lonely she might have been, without a lot of relatives. I am just grateful that she is alive.”
시몬 천
노스웨스턴대 국제정치학 박사
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