Dr. David Jung-Do Park, his mother and sister escaped North Korea in December 1950, but when his mother learned that her father had been captured and put in jail, she decided to go back for him and took his sister with her.
“Someday, we will meet together,” his mother told him. But they never saw each other again.
He wishes he had brought photos with him when he left. Many years later, he is pained that he can’t recall the faces of his mother or sister.
But there are things he remembers vividly: a small desk his father made him for kindergarten, since everyone had to bring his own desk, and the taste and smell of apples and pears from growing up on his father’s orchard.
Recently, he discovered a satellite map on the Internet, so he clicked to try to see his hometown.
“It’s not clear, but I could see the eastern side mountain, the western side sea, and the hills and some buildings,” he says, with some joy.
“I couldn’t go there, but I could see.”
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